New World, New Life 2: Changes of Good and Bad
by Macademi
Summary: THIS IS A SEQUEL, go to my profile to go read the first part. Months have passed since Jeffry died. How have his friends coped with his loss? What events will arise in the later future? Will Celestia ever get to eat that cake I stole from her? Rated M for language and violence(gore) NO LEMONS
1. Chapter 1: Life Changing

**Hey guys, here's the first chapter! Also, if you're reading this and you haven't read the first one yet, go to my profile and read it! OR the story won't make much sense... well it might, just go read the first one if you haven't**

**Enjoy!**

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It has been fives months since Jeffry died. Everyone who wasn't there to see his death were broken at the fact that he had died. Even though most of the ponies of Ponyville fell victim to him, they still saw him as a friend, even after his death. They saw him no less than who he was, but more. They saw him as a hero, a savior, a friend. He gave his life to end the uprising of a tyrant who planned to destroy all of Equestria and rebuilt it in his own image. Thanks to his sacrifice, the ponies of Equestria are now able to live in peace. But four months ago, there have been reports of activity within the Everfree Forest, it wasn't Jeffry's remaining skeleton soldiers though. Those were still alive, but they left everyone alone. They wander the forest, doing nothing but standing and poking around at the plantlife. The reports stated that creatures known as Changelings have been spotted.

I had no idea what these things were, but Celestia explained what they were. The Changelings weren't doing anything, but they were scaring the citizens of Ponyville though. The very knowledge of there being these things, Changelings, lerking within the forest had caused them to panic. They were okay with the skeleton soldiers being there though, since they stayed in the forest and posed no threat to their well being. Instead, they stood as a reminder for Jeffry's great deed. I sighed as I crossed my arms across my chest.

"Come on you sissies! I want 15 more laps!" I ordered to the Guards.

"Sir, yes Sir!" They shouted as they pushed themselves harder.

These guys are totally crap. Princess Celestia had asked me to train the Royal Guard to prepare them for any sudden attacks from the Changelings. I, of course agreed, but this... THIS! This was just sad, once they reached 70 laps, a lot of them began to slack off. Sure it was 70, but I wanted to push them. I wanted there to be a fighting force for Equestria, I had swore to myself that I would take up Jeffry's part of the work, the part of protecting everyone. To protect the citizens, to protect the Princess, the girls, Applejack and Applebloom, and... Twilight. I made sure that over the past few months that nopony came towards her with ill intentions. I sighed as I began to think about Twilight, the day after Jeffry's death, she completely shut herself inside the library. The only times she would come out of her room was to either eat, which she only did so every week or so, or to go into the hedge maze.

The reason being was to visit Jeffry's monument. Jeffry's monument was just a statue of himself, made of stone. Yeah, putting his monument in the spot where Discord was, it's weird. But this was to show that he had defeated him, to show that Discord no longer had a place in this world anymore. We had placed Jeffry's armor on the stone statue of himself. The only ones who were allowed to touch the armor was us and Twilight herself. She would visit it every few days. She would spend hours upon hours, just staring at the armor, hopping that Jeffry would just magically reappear before her, but that of course would never happen. Speaking of her visiting the statue, I might as well pay Jeffry's armor a visit, haven't done so in a long time.

"John!" I heard a voice call out to me.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash", I said, waving at her.

She was wearing a Wonderbolts uniform. Rainbow Dash had given in her application as accepted into the Wonderbolts, her life long dream had been fulfilled, all thanks to Jeffry. And over the past few months, she put his gift into full use. She pushed herself harder and harder each day, for the past few months. Today, she had been promoted to second in command of the Wonderbolts. Jeffry would have been proud to see her like this. Even though it was her dream to be a Wonderbolt, she didn't cheer when she got the promotion. She cried instead, in fact, she cried at every single promotion that she received. She would get down on her knees and start crying, thanking Jeffry for the gift of being able to live her dream.

"General John, I will be taking your position for you today. Seeing as you have your scheduled visit for General Jeffry's monument", Rainbow Dash said as she landed by by side, folding her wings into their resting position.

"Rainbow Dash, for the last time. We're friends, you don't need to address me like that", I sighed as I shook my head.

"Come on... Jeffry wouldn't mind if I said that to him, right?" Rainbow Dash smiled sadly, looking down at the ground as a single tear beaded down her cheek.

"Yeah... he might have liked it... Thanks, I'll go check up on Twilight if she isn't at the statue", I said as I picked up my sword and fastened it to my waist.

"I doubt that, she's there nearly everyday now", she laughed a little.

"Really? Guess I haven't been going there a lot", I sighed as I formed my wings.

Just as I as about to take off, she placed her hoof on my shoulder.

"Put this at Jeffry's monument for me, will you?" Rainbow Dash asked, taking out a bundle of flowers out of no where.

"Will do..., reminds me of Shining Armor and that Princess he's dating", I chuckled as I took the flowers from her.

"Yeah, he even proposed last month", Rainbow Dash giggled.

"Really? I didn't hear about that. Maybe you should get yourself a decent guy", I chuckled as I took off before she could start shouting at me.

I clapped my hands together, teleporting the flowers into my bedroom at the mansion, to prevent them from getting ruined from the force of the wind as I flew through the air. Looking down, I saw that the maze was just below where I was. The training camp wasn't too far from the maze or Canterlot, so of course it would be only a fair bit of traveling to reach either location. I slowly dropped down, falling towards the maze. Giving my wings a light flap, I softened my landing as I entered the center of the maze, in front of Jeffry's monument. Jeffry's armor seemed to have cleared out all of the bad vibes within the maze once I had placed his armor on top of his statue. It was as if Jeffry was still protecting us from beyond this world. And there she was, Twilight.

"Hey there, Twilight", I said softly.

The purple unicorns ears twitched as she raised her head. Turning to look at me, I could see that her eyes were filled with tears, as usual per visit.

"Hey...", she said as she turned back towards Jeffry's statue.

I sighed as I walked up to the statue. Twilight had stopped eating, stopped speaking as much, she wasn't in any real shape to do anything. She still looked like she did a few months ago, but she was visibly tired and in pain. The lose of Jeffry put a great deal of pain and sorrow on her, his death had the most impact on her. I squatted down and clapped my hands together, the flowers appeared at the base of his statue.

"Thank you, John...", she said as she smiled slightly, her mane covering her face as she looked down.

"You should thank, Rainbow Dash for these... I see you're still looking at that book he made for you", I said as I looked down at the ground.

She was indeed looking at the memory book that Jeffry had made for Twilight, before his... death. She would bring the book with her whenever she came to visit the statue. Sometimes I would come a little after she did and stopped by one of the entrances. She would open the book to the very first page and begin to talk to Jeffry's statue, as if he was there with her. I hurt me and the girls to just see her like this, we tried everything to try and cheer her up. Even Pinkie Pie and her randomness failed to put a real smile on her face.

"How you holding up?" I asked.

"...", she said nothing as she gently touched the pendent Jeffry had made for her.

"Twilight... come on. I'll take you home", I said as I got up.

She didn't say anything, but nodded. Closing the book with her hoof, she picked it up with her magic and placed it on her back, using her magic to keep it in place. She held the book in place, as if she was holding onto a piece of bread in a crowd of hungry sea gulls. She wouldn't let anyone touch the book, even myself and the girls. Twilight followed me as I walked out of the maze. We walked alongside one another as we walked down the path that led to a cross section further up ahead. The cross section branched off to Canterlot and Ponyville, and to other towns with ridiculous names. I looked down at her, my heart sank as I saw my best friends girlfriend in such ah condition. As we walked by the forest, I saw some flashes of green zip through the forest. Changelings, they've been getting closer and closer to the town as the days went by. They're planning something, I could feel it.

'_John? John, I need you back in Canterlot_', I heard Celestia call to me with her magic.

'_Okay, I'll be there soon_', I said as I severed the connection.

"Twilight, I need to get back to Canterlot. Get home safe, okay?" I said.

She said nothing, but nodded to show that she was listening. I turned around, looking back at the terribly sad unicorn. Sighing, I teleported away from her, into Canterlot. I reappeared on the balcony of Celestia's room. Pushing the doors, I stepped inside. The room housed only Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, and her sister.

"What's the problem?" I asked, quickly getting serious.

"General John, we've received reports and confirmation that the Changelings had kidnapped several citizens from Ponyville", Shining Armor said.

"I knew they were up to something... how many have been taken?" I asked, clenching my fist at the news.

"It number isn't exact, we think that several more have been kidnapped before the report was written up. But if we were to guess, I would say about... 50, maybe more?" Shining said.

"... what do we do?" I asked, placing my hands on the edge of the table.

"I have decided to organize and send out several squads on a rescue mission, led by Caption Shining Armor and yourself. We've also received several reports of camps being sighted. We believe that they're Changeling camps. The citizens might be in there", Celestia said.

"Okay, when do we start?" I asked.

"The operation has yet to be prepared. I have yet to start the makings of the squads", Celestia said.

"Well make them already! I want to take these things down!" I shouted, crushing the wood as I clenched my fists.

They didn't flinch at my behaviour, ever since Jeffry's death, my anger has gotten more and more out of hand when it came to the safety of the people and my friends. I sighed.

"Sorry", I said.

"It's okay, we understand", Shining said.

"I'll begin with the making of the squads now. Feel free to suggest anypony to be in the squads", Celestia said as she picked up a quail.

"How about the Wonderbolts?" I suggested.

"The Wonderbolts have been included already, they will make up their own squads of five, they will take up one of the ten squads that will be deployed under thy command", Luna said.

"Okay, what else is there to do?" I asked.

"Nothing, we just have the work we have now", Shining said.

"Okay, I'll help you with the squads", I said to Celestia, who in turn nodded.

"Hey, just wondering. Where have the kidnappings based on?" I asked.

"The main area of Ponyville that has been hit was near here", Shining said as he trotted over to me with a rolled up map.

Unrolling the map, he pointed at a spot on the map of Ponyville... it was just four houses from Twilight's library!

"When have the kidnappings been happening?" I asked frantically as sweat began to pour from my forehead.

"At around night time. Why?" He asked.

"Nothing", I said.

'_Good, Twilight and the girls should be safe for now. I'll go back to Ponyville before it turns to night. I want to set up a barrier around Ponyville, don't want anypony else being taken_', I thought as I wiped my brow.

We all began to work on the tasks at hand. Luna and Shining Armor were working on choosing where would be ideal places to set up camps in the Everfree Forest. We wanted to set up a command post for the operation, we weren't going to just go in and hit camp after camp. We were going to stay in the forest for a few days, maybe weeks. From our sources, it would mostly likely be that the kidnapped citizens wouldn't be all in one camp. We were going to have to strike several Changeling camps in order to rescue all of the citizens that were taken from Ponyville. Some might not even be in camps, they could have been moved into their hive, or worse... dead.

"Hey, Shining. Why are the Changelings kidnapping ponies for anyways?" I asked, just realizing that I had no idea on why they would do this.

"Well, Changelings feed off of love. It's their main food", he replied.

Okay, this world was weirder than I thought it would be. After an hour or so, we had all of the things ready. Squads were made, locations for camps have been set up. All that was left to do was to gather up the Guards that were selected for the operation and to have others gather the supplies needed to set up these camps.

"Shining, I would like you to go and ready the gear. My sister and I will handle the gathering of the Guards for the operation", Celestia said as she lifted the list up.

"What about me?" I asked.

"I will contact you when everything is in place", she said.

"Okay, I'm going to go to Applejack", I said.

"Understood, please be ready for deployment", Celestia said.

"Will do", I replied, clapping my hands together.

I teleported out of the room and onto the apple family's farm. I heard giggling and banging sounds coming from the barn. Wondering what was going on in there, I walked over to the barn and opened one of the doors and stepped inside. Suddenly, a bucket of water fell on my head, my vision was blocked by the rim of the bucket. I heard louder giggles coming from above where I stood.

"Aw, it wasn't Big Mac", I heard Applebloom giggle.

"Applebloom, girls. Down, now", I ordered.

I swear I could hear Applebloom and her two friends gulp. I listened as I heard them come down the ladder and slowly walk over to where I was. Once they were close enough, I quickly scooped them up and gave them a tight hug.

"Time for some payback", I grinned as I lifted them into the air with my magic.

I formed three feathers with my magic and began to tickle their bellies. They all began to laugh madly as I continued to tickle them over and over.

"*Giggle* 'Top it, Jeffry. That tickles!" Applebloom giggled as he squirmed in my hold.

I ignored their begging for me to stop and continued with my tickle torture. After a few seconds later, I stopped with the tickling and placed them on the straw covered floor. Their chests moving up and down quickly as they struggled to catch their breath. I grinned as I took off the bucket and placed it on the ground.

"Hey, John. What'cha doin' here?" Applebloom asked, once she regained her breathe.

"Couldn't I just come here to spend some time with you and your sister?" I asked, squatting down and rubbing her mane.

"Sure ya' can. Sis is in tha house", Applebloom said as she got to her tiny little hooves.

"Okay, I'll go see her now. Also, I won't be seeing you guys that much in a few hours, or tomorrow", I said.

"Aw, whay's that, John?" Applebloom asked.

"Princess Celestia gave me a job to do. I'll come and play with you when I'm done, okay?" I asked, hiding the information that I was going to go do something dangerous.

"Okay. Come on girls, we gots lots more to trah out!" Applebloom exclaimed as she dashed out of the barn, her friends following behind her.

I smiled as I got up. Walking out of the barn, I closed the front doors and walked towards the house. I reached for the door, but the door swung inwards as somepony opened the door. It was Applejack, he had a toolbox balanced on her back. I smiled at her as we saw each other.

"Hey, Applejack. Just came to visit for a while before I head off to do some work for the Princess", I said.

"Well, that's mighty kind of ya'", Applejack said as she smiled back at me.

I leaned in as she did too, our lips touched as we kissed. After the several months, Applejack and I had gotten more and more close to each other. We even went of several dates, but none of them were really enjoyable since the feelings of sadness hung at our hearts and the thought that Jeffry had died. But none the less, we were getting closer.

"So, what are you doing?" I asked as I followed her towards the barn, closing the house door behind her.

"Well, Ah was about to head into the barn and fix one of them faulty beams. Barns startin' teh fall apart now", Applejack said.

"Oh, need some help? I have some time to spare before I get called back to Canterlot", I offered.

"Ah'd love that John", she said as we entered the barn.

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**And we've finished with Chapter 1 of the sequel! Hope you guys liked it. I feel as if I rushed the events though, of well. I wanted to make this more of a relaxed story at first, but skipped out on it since I couldn't think of anything that would fit with the death of Jeffry.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Preparations

**IF YOU'RE READING THIS, AND YOU HAVE NOT READ THE FIRST PART FANFIC, NEW WORLD, NEW LIFE. STOP READING THIS NOW AND HEAD OVER TO MY PROFILE AND READ IT! OR THIS FANFIC WON'T MAKE MUCH SENSE... OR MIGHT, I DON'T KNOW. THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO NEW WORLD, NEW LIFE.**

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"So, what do you need me to do?" I asked.

"Ah need you to keep this here beam leveled", Applejack said as she pointed at the beam.

I looked over the edge and saw the beam, the wood had broken off, the wood seemed to have rotted a bit, too. Using my magic, I lifted the broken end up so that it was leveled out evenly. Applejack opened the toolbox and nudged several tools aside as she looked for what she needed to fix the beam. Pulling out hammer with a mouth, she brought a metal band as well.

"Eh, Applejack. Need me to do that?" I asked, wondering how she would be able to do this herself.

"Sure, thanks John. Just keep the band on the beam and hammer 'er on in", she said as she placed the hammer in my hand.

Grabbing the metal band, I walked over to the edge and turned around. Hooking my legs on the edge of the floor, I hung upside down as I kept the beam up with my magic. I then bent the metal band around the broken ends of the beam, covering the two sections with the band.

"Got any nails?" I asked, looking up.

"Oh yeah, yeah. Got some raght here", Applejack said as she pulled out a small cup with nails in it, from the toolbox.

"Thank you", I said as I grabbed two nails.

Looking back at the beam, I started to wonder.

'_How the hell did she plan to do this?_' I looked over the metal band, there weren't any holes for the nails to go through.

Oh well, gotta do it the manual way then. Positioning a nail on one end of the band, I hammered it straight through the metal sheet. Repeating the process for the other side, I began to go all around the metal band.

"Hey, John?" Applejack whispered.

"Yeah, Aj?" I asked, hammering in another nail.

"Hows Twilight doin'?" She asked, I stopped.

Sighing, I swung myself up, landing on my feet. Setting the hammer down, I sat down at the edge of the wood.

"She's the way she has been for the past five months, depressed. I wish there was something we could do to cheer her up", I said, shaking my head as I looked over at the farmer.

"Yeah, Ah don't like seein' any of mah friends like that, it hurts me just to see 'em like that", Applejack said as she came over and sat by my side, her fore hooves resting on the edge.

"Jeff sure made one hell of a exit, didn't he? Twilight always looks through the memory book over and over", I chuckled smiling, but I felt horrible for laughing.

"Mm, Twilight kept Jeffry's gifts close to 'er heart. Not lettin' anypony touchin' that pendent or that book", Applejack said as Applebloom and her two friends galloped into the barn, laughing and giggling.

"And you girls kept his gifts close to yours as well... Applebloom cried when she heard that Jeffry had left her a scarf before she died. She treasures the damn thing like she does with that hat I gave her. At least the two things match", I chuckled softly as I watched Applebloom dive into a bale of hay, followed by her friends.

"Got that right, I want to wear the earrings that Jeffry made for me, but Ah don't want to get mah ears pierced", Applejack said, almost sad for not accepting Jeffry's gift fully.

"Hey, at least you placed it somewhere where you'll see it everyday. It's the thought that counts", I said, wrapping my arm around her neck.

"Yeah, mah sister sort of looks like me now", Applejack said as she placed a hoof on her scarf, the one I made for her.

"She sure does, but you look more beautiful than she does", I said tickling the underside of her chin.

"Oh stop it you, mah sister will be just as beautiful when she grows up, maybe better than Ah look", Applejack said as she tipped her hat up.

"Ya' bet Ah will!" A tiny voice squeaked as something tackled my back, earning a 'gong' from my armor.

"Applebloom, you okay?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at the dazed filly.

"Ah'm all raght", she said as she shook her head, shaking away the daze she was in.

"Where are your friends?" I asked, looking down to see none of them on the first level.

Suddenly, a bale of hay landed on my head. Spitting out bits if hay, I tossed the bale aside, shaking my head to get rid of the hay from my hair. Giggling came from behind me as the fillies appeared out from behind a pile of hay.

"Oh ha ha, girls", I said as I picked out the tiny bits of hay from my armor.

"Hey there, John", Scootaloo said.

"Hey", I said as I teleported my armor off to get rid of the hay easier.

"Wanna play with us?" Scootaloo asked.

"Mm, beam's fixed, and I have time. Sure, what do you girls want to play?" I asked as I placed my armor to the side and got up.

"How about tag?" Applebloom said, crawling into my armor.

"Sure", I said as I looked at Applejack.

"Want to join?" I asked.

"Sure", Applejack said.

"Good, cause you're it!" I laughed as I leaped over the edge, landing on the first floor.

"Come on girls! We need to get away from Applebloom's stinky sister", I laughed as the girls came down the ladder and ran after me.

"'Ay! Ah'm not smelly! Come back here ya' bolt head", Applejack shouted as she chased after us.

The girls giggled madly as Applejack chased after us. I stopped for a brief second and squatted down and scooped them up. Running to the side, I ran through the trees and then leaped over a cart. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that Applejack had leaped over the cart as well, as if it was nothing to her. The girls giggled and squealed as I ran up a tree trunk and pushed myself off of it. As I went through the air, I went over Applejack and landed on my feet.

"Can't catch me!" I exclaimed as I ran the other way.

"Come back 'ere!" Applejack said as she grinned evilly.

~Training Grounds~

I watched as the Guards made their last lap, they all dropped down as they crossed the line. Panting wildly. They had just ran a full 100 laps around the track, wasn't surprising for them to be tired.

"Come on! We've got preparations to make! Get moving!" I ordered them.

"Yes, Ma'am!" They shouted as they quickly got up and limped their way over to the tents to get out the supplies we needed.

"Wonder Bolt, Rainbow Dash. When will you be ready?" I heard a voice say.

"Caption Shining Armor, the Wonderbolts that have been placed under my command will be ready to move out as soon as the order is given", I said, turning to Shining Armor as he trotted over to me.

"Good, the last of the squads are just about finished. We move out in less than an hour. Have you seen General John?" He asked.

"I saw him an hour or two ago, he went to go check up on Twilight. He should have been back by now", I said.

"Oh yeah, he came back, but went back to Ponyville to spend some time with Applejack. Princess Celestia will be calling him back when we're ready to deploy", Shining Armor said.

"With Applejack? Shouldn't he be here, preparing for the move?" I asked.

"Yes, but it's best for him to cool down a bit. Ever since Jeffry's death... he gets angry quite easily now, well, only at certain topics", he sighed as he took off his helmet and placed it on a barrel.

"Yeah... his death impacted your sister the most", I said as I shook my head.

"Yeah, I wish I could go visit my sister, but I've got a job to do. And once this is all done, I'll be getting married soon after all of this is finished", he said, smiling slightly.

"Right... who's this Princess anyway?" I asked, looking over at him as I sat down on a crate.

"Her name's Princess Cadence, she's the niece of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I met her back when I was little, when Twily was just a little filly", he smiled as he looked up into the sky.

"Wow, so you'll be a Prince after your marriage?" I asked, slightly surprised.

"Yeah, and I get to spend my life with the most beautiful mare in the world", Shining said as he sighed happily.

"Yeah, try saying that in front of John or Jeffry... if he were here. They'll start fighting over who's prettier, Applejack or Twilight", I snickered a little as I thought of how that fight would turn out.

"I vote for my sister", Shining Armor chuckled as he placed his helmet back on his head.

"Then I'll go with Applejack", I said.

We both began to laugh at this. But our laughter slowly died down.

"If only Jeffry was still here", I sighed.

"Yeah... hey, I'm going to head back to the planning room to touch up on any late plans", Shining Armor said as he began to trot away.

"Okay, see you at deployment", I called out to him.

"Understood", he said before he disappeared into the forest.

I sighed as I turned back to the training field. This operation would be my first time that I would have ever gone into any sort of battlefield. I only got promoted because of my flying skills. And these Guards... well, they still need a lot more training before we could even hope to succeed in the rescue missions. The training camp itself was only about 500 meters from a Changeling camp, but thankfully no Changelings had decided to attack us. Cause if they did attack us, we'll be destroyed... speaking of destroyed.

"Hey! Take that tent down properly!" I shouted as one of the Guards pulled on one of the fastening lines, causing the pole to spring right out of the ground and whack him on his helmet, giving off a loud gong.

'_They're all idiots, I swear_', I sighed as I shook my head.

~Sweet Apple Acres~

The girls and I had finished our little game of tag, Appleblooms friends all went home for the day. Applejack, her sister, and I were sitting on top of the barn, looking over the apple orchard. Applebloom was asleep on my lap, Applejack leaned her head on my shoulder.

"So, John. When are ya' goin' back to Canterlot?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know, Princess Celestia said that she would contact me soon", I said.

"Soon... ya' know how long y'all gonna be I the Everfree Forest for?" Applejack asked, lifting her head off of my shoulder to look at me.

"I don't know, but hopefully in just a few days", I said, looking at her as I smiled.

"Why a few days? So ya' can come back to the farm and spend some tahme with me and Applebloom?" Applejack gave me a smug grin.

I grinned back at her. Reaching for her hat, I plucked it off of her head and placed it on top of my own.

"Eeyup", I said, mimicking Big Mac's voice.

"..Mm, quiet Big Mac, Ah'm tryin' teh sleep here", Applebloom mumbled, flailing her little legs as she turned over.

Applejack and I looked down at her, and then at each other. We began to laugh a bit, but not loud enough to wake the sleeping filly. As we turned our heads to look at the sky again, I saw something coming towards the farm. Several large objects were coming towards us. Squinting my eyes, I saw that it was Rainbow Dash, Shining Armor, followed by several carriages. All filled with equipment and the such.

"Hey, Applejack. We're here to pick up John", Rainbow Dash said as she landed on the barn, the carriages and Shining Armor went overhead, headed towards the Everfree Forest.

"Okay... thought Celestia was going to contact me. Oh well, gotta go now, Applejack", I said as I scooped Applebloom up and placed her on her sisters back.

"Alrighty then, come back soon", Applejack said.

"I'll be back before you know it", I said as I squatted down and gave her a quick kiss.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash. Let's go", I said as I formed my wings.

Rainbow Dash and I took off after the carriages. I looked back at the barn, Applejack waved me goodbye, I returned the wave as I flew away with Rainbow Dash.

"So, any updates?" I asked.

"Not much, just some more Changeling activity in the forest. Nothing out of the ordinary yet", she said, looking down at the forest.

"Good, I don't want anymore citizens being kidnapped", I said as I dove down a little.

"Also, the squads of the Royal Guard came with us. My squad will arrive shortly after. They should make it to the site once we get there as well", she said.

"Okay, only thing left is to set up some bases", I said.

"Yeah, we're only going to be setting up six bases. Each one will be about 75 meters apart, We're going to form a line in the forest to prevent any more Changelings from going in and out of Ponyville", she said as we dove down into the forest.

"Perfect, that'll limit the number of ponies needing to be rescued. We'll be in and out of this operation in no time", I said as we landed on the ground.

We walked towards the sound of clanking and banging of equipment being unloaded from the carriage.

"Okay, I want those crates to be moved to Site 1, move the others to their respected Sites. Come on, move move. We've got to get these bases set up as soon as possible", Shining Armor ordered as he looked over a checklist.

"Shining, where's the command post being established?" I asked.

"That will be set up about 25 meters behind the midpoint of Sites 3 and 4", Shining said without looking up from the checklist.

"Got it, Rainbow Dash. Help with the squad organizing. Everypony looks like they've got the freaking legs tied together. I'm going to help Site 6 with the equipment", I said as I walked away from the two.

Walking over to one of the carriages, I looked inside and saw that the cargo had giant, white, painted 4's on it. Most likely it was equipment that needed to be moved to Site 4. Moving to the next carriage, I saw that it was the one I needed, equipment for Site 6. I ordered the others to step aside as I grabbed the front of the carriage and threw it into the air. Catching the carriage from beneath it, I began to walk towards where one of them said Site 6 would be set up. I navigated through the trees as I moved the carriage. Once we were there, I set the carriage down and ordered for them to begin unloading everything. Just as the equipment was about to be unloaded, several Changelings leaped out of the trees and went towards the Guards that were on the carriage unloading the things. Quickly forming several swords and keeping them floating around myself, I grabbed two and threw them at the Changelings. The swords stabbed through them and sent them flying into trees, they hung there as the sword stayed inside their bodies and dug into the trees.

Grabbing for more swords, I threw more as the unicorns of Site 6 began to fire at the Changelings with their own magic. Silence fell over the Site as the last of the Changelings were finished off, rather quickly.

"Anypony hurt? Squads, rollcall!" I shouted, disarming the remaining swords.

"..Squad A-1, all accounted for... Squad A-3, same here", several Squad commanders shouted out their names as they counted their numbers.

"Jeez, if they're going to change the Squad names, at least tell me", I said.

"Alright, back to wor-*Snap*", I spun around, unsheathing my sword as I swung it through the air.

I stopped my blade as it nearly sliced off the head of one of Jeffry's skeleton soldiers. Behind it were several more, all covered in green blood. Sheathing my sword, I looked behind me at the bodies in the trees, they all leaked out green blood. Guess they were fighting the Changelings, too.

"You guys handled some Changelings?" I asked the skeleton that I almost decapitated.

"...", it said nothing, but stared at me with those black, flaming, eye sockets.

"...Why am I even asking you, you guys can't even talk", I sighed as I turned around.

I'm glad that Jeffry's remaining skeleton soldiers still lived, it seems that they've become aware of what was happening and decided to help us. It's as if Jeffry had left us with a guardian... some pretty damn scary ones, too. I walked over to the carriage to help with the unloading, the skeletons just walked into the in-progress camp and wandered around.

'_Guess they're going to keep watch over things_', I shrugged as I lifted a stack of crates out of the carriages.

~Twilight's Library~

I sighed as I closed Jeffry's memory book. It was getting late in the day, and I still didn't eat. Time to eat I guess. As I stood up on my bed, I looked out the window, the sun shining in, providing me with warmth. Just as I was about to look away, I saw something... it couldn't be... no!

"Jeffry? Jeffry!" I shouted as I rushed over to the window and placed my hooves on the glass and peered through the window.

It was him! He disappeared around a corner. I quickly ran out of my bedroom and down the stairs as I tried to get to him as quickly as possible. Not even bothering to close the door, I ran down the street, towards where I thought I had spotted him. I looked around, I spotted him again! He was walking down the path towards the Everfree Forest.

"Jeffry! Wait! Is it really you?!" I called out to him, he didn't even bother to look back at me.

Something was odd, but it was Jeffry! I had to get to him! I galloped after him, I chased him up the path towards the Everfree Forest. He entered the forest and disappeared into the shadows. Charging into the forest, I panted as I looked around.

"Jeffry? Jeffry, where are you? Please, come ou-*Smack*", I fell forward.

The sound of something snapping came after I had been hit in the back of the head. I landed on the dirt floor. Jeffry appeared in front of me.

"J-Jeffry?" I said as my vision began to blur.

Jeffry suddenly burst into green flames. Once the flames had died down, I saw that it was a Changeling! The Changeling was really large, there was a large scar that ran down the left side of his face, his green eye was instead a white color, seeing as his eye was most likely blinded from that scar. It was taking the form of Jeffry! Several other Changelings crept out of the bushes, snickering as they looked down upon me. The Changeling that was taking the form of Jeffry, said something to me.

"_I'm sorry_", those were the last words I heard as I blacked out.

* * *

**Cliffhanger~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~s :D. Believe it or not, I actually had trouble writing this chapter. Sorry if it seems a bit dicey and crummy. I'll try my best for Chapter 3, which might come out today, or tomorrow. Seeing as I have no other fanfics hindering my progress, faster and no delayed chapters FTW!**

**Please leave a Review.**


	3. Chapter 3: Worry Not

"One of you get the last crate out of the carriage", I ordered as I lifted a crate from the carriage.

Walking over to a tree, I set the crate down on the ground. I stretched out my arms, they were getting stiff from keeping them ridged like that for so long when I carried the crates. Looking back at the carriage, I saw one of the Guards lift the crate out of the carriage with his magic, and trotted off to set it down. I looked down at the crate and then lifted my arm up. Bringing my fist down, I smashed the lid off and removed my hand from the hole. Looking inside, I saw that it was filled with miscellaneous items.

"I'll leave the set up to you guys, I'm going to go back to the command post", I said as I walked away from the Site.

"Sir, yes Sir!" They shouted.

"One last thing, don't call me Sir", I said.

"... Understood?" They said, looking at one another as they tried to think of a way to respond.

"Good, good good", I said as I walked deeper into the woods, towards the command post.

I walked past another one of those skeleton ponies, they seemed to be going towards one general area. I didn't know where they were going, but I didn't care.

'_John! We have a problem_', I heard Celestia say.

'_What problem? What's going on?_' I asked, fearing that some Changelings might have gone past our still being built wall of bases.

'_Jeffrys armor is gone! One of the Guards said that he saw the armor floating out of the hedge maze_', Celestia s aid.

'_What!? His armor? Where is it going? Who's doing this?_' I asked, my anger began to grow more and more at the thought of somepony having the nerve to steal Jeffry's armor.

'_The Guard says that the armor is headed towards the Everfree Forest_', Celestia said.

'_The Everfree Forest? Good, I'm already here. When do you think the armor will get here?_' I asked as I looked up at the sky, scanning for any signs of Jeffry's armor.

'_The armor will not be approaching your location, but near the borderline of Ponyville and the forest_', she said.

'_Okay, got it. I'll go there now_', I said as I severed the connection.

I charged through the forest, leaving behind a cloud of dust as I ran through the forest. Anger driving my body. Who in the world would want to steal his armor? The armor of the person who saved everypony in this god damn world. Charging at a tree, I planted my foot at the base and ran up the trunk of the tree. Slicing away branches, I then leaped off of the top and formed my wings. Giving myself a burst of speed with my magic, I flew through the air like an arrow being fired from a crossbow. The bases weren't being set too far away from Ponyville, so I was able to get there quickly. Ponyvill came into view. Folding my wings, I landed on a tree. The force of my landing snapped the base of the tree and caused it to lean forward. Pushing several branches out of my vision, I looked at the sky, but saw nothing.

'_Celestia said that the armor would be approaching this general area by air... that means a unicorn!_' I looked down at the ground and scanned for any signs of a unicorn being in this area.

If the armor was flying, that must have meant that it was a unicorn, and unicorns can't fly. So the theif would have to be somewhere on the ground.

'_Ah ha!_' The armor came into view as it suddenly appeared.

It didn't fly here, but teleported. I watched both the sky and the ground for any signs of the thief, but saw nothing, just the armor. I watched as the armor floated lower and lower into the forest. Quickly leaping down from the trees, I unsheathed my swords and looked around. I saw no movements within the trees, no Changelings, no Guards, but something came into view. It was one of Jeffry's skeleton soldiers. Soon, several more appeared out of the shadows, all coming closer and closer to the armor.

"Guess you guys felt your summoners magic from his armor, right? Well, I'm going to take it back to the statue now", I said to the skeleton soldiers, knowing that they wouldn't respond to my words either way.

As I sheathed my swords, I walked up to Jeffry's armor. Just as I was about to touch the armor, one of the skeletons suddenly glowed. I covered my eyes as the others began to glow too. Jeffry's armor suddenly began to crackle with black electricity. I felt a sharp, burning pain as the armor shot out lighting everywhere, hitting me as well. Striking everything within its range. The lighting connected with the skeleton soldiers, each of them began to levitate as their bodies began to glow brighter and brighter. Suddenly, the armor stopped glowing, but shot out a massive shockwave that sent me flying into a deeper part of the forest, I smashed through several trees. I landed a great distance from where the armor was. I panted as I tried to push myself up, my body tingled as the electricity continued to sting at my body. My body gave out, and I blacked out.

~Command Post~

I paused as I felt something push my forward a little, like a strong gale. Looking back, I saw that the sky was dark at a certain area, close to the edge of the Everfree Forest.

"Hey, Shining Armor, you see that?" I asked, pointing my hoof at the growing gray cloud.

"... Yeah, what about it?" Shining asked as he pried open a crate.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd? The pegasi don't change the weather in the Everfree Forest, the weather changes on its own", I said as I rubbed the back of my neck with my hoof.

"Well, then we have nothing to worry about. Just the forest being itself", he said as he lifted a coil of rope out of the crate.

"The weather does change on its own, but that doesn't look like a storm cloud, it looks almost like smoke", I said as I pulled down my goggles, trying to see if the goggles would help me see it better.

"Smoke?... Think we should send somepony to check it out?" Shining asked as he set the rope down on the side of the carriage.

"Yeah, don't want to end up having to fight a fire and the Changelings at the same time", I laughed slightly as I trotted over to a group of Guards who were busy building a tower for the command post.

"I want you five to go scout the area around that gray cloud. Report anything you see, even if it seems odd", I ordered.

"Yes, ma'am", they said in unison as the five of them galloped into the forest.

Ugh, these idiots. If you're going to do scouting, there's a reason why scouting missions are supposed to be silent, not be done with the sound of loud hoofsteps. I swear, one day these stallions are going to end up being the reason why Equestria ends up becoming a Changeling haven. While they go off to scout that, I'll finish up the set up. Trotting back to the crates, I lifted off the cover to the crate and set it on its side as I peered inside. I pulled out some spikes for the tents and trotted over to where some Guards were working on the station tents. Dropping them by one of the Guards, hoof. I trotted back to the crate. I wish I had hands like John did, I wouldn't have to use my mouth to carry everything. Speaking of John, where the hay is he?

"Hey, Shining. You know where john is?" I asked as I looked around the Site.

"Hmm, he should be with the squads that were assigned at Site 6", Shining Armor said as he tossed an empty crate onto the carriage.

"Oh, I forgot. My bad", I said as I went back to opening crates.

~Where John is... Wherever the Hell That is~

I slowly began to wake up, my entire body felt as if it had been thrown into an oven and baked. My fingers twitched as I tried to move, but failed to even turn my hand upwards. I gritted my teeth as I tried to move my legs instead, that was a bad idea. A searing burn went up my right leg as I tried to move it. I laid there for a moment, thinking of what I could do. Why did Jeffry's armor do t hat? Wait... where was it?

'_Crap, the thief better not have plan that. I'm going to kick that ponies ass... when I find it that is_', I thought as I tried to slow my breathing down.

After a few minutes of lying down on the dry, burnt grass, I was finally able to move a little. Slowly pushing myself over, I landed on my chest. Grunting as I pushed myself up, I propped myself up with my elbow and looked around. I was no longer at the area where the armor had arrived. Figures, the blast sent me so freaking far away. The blast even managed to burn the grass and trees even further than where I had landed. Seeing as I couldn't walk, I had to crawl. I needed to see if Jeffry's armor was still there or not, I couldn't let one of the last few things that Jeffry had left us with, be taken away by some scum of a thief. The sounds of hooves approached from behind me.

'_Shit, that better not be Changelings_', I spat as I rolled into a bush, unsheathing my sword.

I waited for the unknown figures to come closer. As the sounds grew louder, I gripped the hilt of my sword tighter.

"What happened here?" A deep voice said, it sounded like a pony.

"Looks like a forest fire just died down", another voice said.

I didn't know for sure who they were, so I had to use some deal of force. Slipping the tip of my sword into the grass, I extended and snaked the blade into the ground. Splitting it up into smaller blades, I shot them out of the ground and surrounded the unknown figures with blades.

"Identify yourselves, or I will kill you", I said.

"D-Dusty Guard of the Royal Guard of Canterlot", one of them said.

"Oh, you guys", I said as I removed the blades from their throats.

"General John?" One of them said.

"Yeah", I grunted as I rolled out of the bush.

"What happened to you, Sir?" The one I know now was, Dusty Guard, asked.

"Nothing, just help over there", I hissed as I pointed at where I thought the armor was at, the pain came back as I moved again.

They complied as two of them placed my arms on their backs and helped me up. Slowly moving forward, we made our way to where I last saw Jeffry's armor, before it freaking blew me away like a birthday candle at a little kids birthday party. Finally reaching the area where I was last in, my mouth dropped open as I looked at the scenery. The trees were withered, the grass was matted down and black. At the center, surrounded by piles of bones, was Jeffry's armor. Something looked odd about it.

"Stay here", I said as I removed my arms from their backs and limped over to his armor.

Not being able to slowly lower myself onto the ground, I dropped onto my knees and panted. The pain was still hanging onto my body. I looked down at the armor... it was no no longer shining, it was a dull, chalky light gray color now. As if someone had dumped a bag of flour on it. Reaching at one of the shoulder pads, I lifted it up. But as I put a little more pressure on the armor, it crumbled completely.

"No, no, no, no, no", I panicked as I fidgeted my hands over the armor.

'_Celestia!_' I shouted into my mind.

'_Y-yes, John. Is something wrong?_' Celestia asked, slightly frightened by my sudden outburst.

'_I found Jeffry's armor, but it's different. I can't feel the magic coming from it anymore. And when I picked up a piece of his armor, it broke_', I said as I looked at the pile of brittle armor.

'_How can this be? The armor was filled with Jeffry's magic. Such magic would kill anypony who tried to extract and use that magic. Even myself, my sister, and you wouldn't be able to survive something like that_', Celestia said.

"You guys can head on back, I'm going to stay here for a while", I said to the Guards.

"Yes, General John", they said as they disappeared into the forest.

'_This is near impossible. Magic is the life force of us Alicorns and unicorns, and yourself._', Celestia said.

'_Wait, so Jeffry was still technically alive?_' I said, scratching my hand, but quickly stopped as pain went through my body again.

'Figuratively_ speaking, yes. But not physically. Magic is the life of an Alicorn or unicorn. I don't see how it is possible for somepony to be able to extract the magic. Even if somepony succeeded in extracting the magic, they would have survived if they took it from Jeffry directly_', Celestia said.

'_Directly... why?_' I asked.

'_The armor was permanently made, a high concentration of magic would be required. If magic were to be extracted from a living being, they could stop at anytime. But with such properties in a non-living object, the magic would flow continuously until the armor was fully deprived of magic_', Celestia explained.

'_Okay, bu-_', I stopped as I looked at the ground.

Placing my hand on the grass, I noticed indents in the grass, it looked as if someone or something had walked on it. It wasn't from myself or the Guards, we didn't step there. It seemed to have either started or ended at the pile of Jeffry's armor. The thief! He or she must have survived and ran away!

'_Celestia, I'm going to stay out of this operation for now. I think I found the trail of the thief_', I said as I eyed the tracks.

'_Okay, but please don't take too long. It is best to save the ponies as soon as possible_', Celestia said.

'_Got'cha, I'll contact you later on, if I can_', I said before I severed the connection.

Just as I was about to follow the tracks, I felt something. It felt like Jeffry's magic! Quickly turning around, I saw nothing. Shrugging it off, I turned around, but it came again. Quickly turning around again, I unsheathed my sword and readied my self for anything, friend or foe. Again, nothing came, no sound, no movement, no signs of life. Keeping my eye in that general direction, I saw a flash. I inched closer and closer to where I saw the flash. After moving nearly 30 meters, I saw that it wasn't a flash, but the gleam of a gem. Wait...

'_This looks familiar_', I said as I squatted down and picked up the gem.

'_Wait, this is the pendent that Jeffry made for Twilight. But why is it here? She would never take it off...!_' I noticed that the back of the chain was snapped off.

'_Twilight! Something must have happened. I'll go check the library first_', I thought as I placed the pendent in my pocket.

Clapping my hands, I teleported myself into the library.

"Twilight! TWILIGHT!" I shouted into the room.

"Hey, hey. Quiet down there, I'm trying to sle- Oh hey, John", I heard a voice say as a small purple and green dragon appeared out of the top of the stairs.

"Spike! Have you seen Twilight?" I asked, sweating as I panted heavily.

"Um... I don't think so? She was here though, she left the memory book on her bed, guess she went outside?" Spike said before he went back into the bedroom.

'_Maybe the others know where she is_', I thought as I teleported out of the library and into Rarity's boutique.

"Rarity! Are you here?" I called out into the store.

"No, my sister isn't here. Do you need anything?" I heard a squeaky voice ask, it was Sweetie Belle.

"Sweetie Belle, do you know where your sister is? I need to speak to her, its urgent", I asked.

"Yeah, I know where she is. What happened to you? You look burnt", Sweetie Belle said as she cocked her head to the side.

"Sweetie Belle, just tell me where your sister is. I need to ask her and the others if they saw Twilight", I practically shouted at her.

"She went to the spa with her friends. She was going to invite Twilight, but she said that she wasn't at the library and didn't know where she was. Maybe the others know?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Okay, thanks", I said as I clapped my hands again, teleporting out of the boutique.

I reappeared a two feet or more above something. Falling into it, I caused a large splash as I fell into a large tub, several cries came after I landed in the water.

"What in tarnation?" I heard Applejack's voice.

"Girls, you're all here", I spat out the water as I stood in the tub, surrounded by the girls.

"Yes, deary. For what reason did you have to ruin a perfectly good bath?" Rarity said.

"No time for small talk, I need to know if any of you girls know where Twilight is", I said.

"Twilight? Why do y-",

"Just tell me if you know where she is!" I shouted, scaring them.

"Ugh, sorry. I just need to know', I said as I panted, my body began to ache again.

They all shook their heads, no. I let out a loud groan as I held the sides of my head with my hands.

"John, dear. Are you okay? You don't seem too well", Applejack said, coming over to me and placing her hoof on my arm.

"I think Twilight's in trouble. I found her pendent at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Her memory book is still in her bedroom", I said.

"Twilight's in trouble, oh no...", Fluttershy said.

"What happened to her?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I think maybe some Changelings might have taken her away", I said as I placed my hands over my face, I started to sob.

"Taken? This isn't good!" Rarity said.

"I know! I swore to myself that I would protect her, in Jeffry's place", I said as I began to cry.

"Jeffry, dammit. I failed you", I said as I slammed my fist into the water, splashing nearly half of the water out of the tub.

I cried as I felt, not only the pain of my body aching, but my heart. I had failed Jeffry. I felt a hoof touch my shoulder as I felt myself being pulled towards something. It was Applejack, she had brought me into a hug.

"John, ya' didn't fail no one. You just weren't there to do anything. Come on, cryin' like a newborn foal won't you or Twilight any good", Applejack said, giving me a light push back.

"You're right... you're right", I said as I smiled.

"Come on, let's all go look for her", she said as she stood up in the water.

"No, you girls stay in the town and stay safe. I'm not losing anymore friends. I'll go look for her", I said.

"And I won't take no for an answer", I said.

"Right. Now go out there and get Twilight back", Applejack said as she gave me a peak on the cheej.

Smiling back at her, I teleported out of the spa and reappeared in front of it.

'_John, are you alright? I'm getting strange feelings off of you_', I heard Celestia ask.

'_I'm alright, better than alright to be exact. I'm going to head back to the camps and get ready for a resuce mission. Twilight has been taken by the Changelings as well_', I said, hearing her gasp.

'_How are you sure?_' Celestia asked.

'_Oh... I'm sure_', I said as I pulled out Twilight's pendent from my pocket.

'_I'm sure alright..._', I said as I started to run towards the direction of the Everfree Forest.

* * *

**Chapter 3 :D Wow, weekends+no other fanfics to work on=awesome writing/upload rates for this fanfic :D Hope you guys liked this chapter, more to come soon! I might have another one by tomorrow, or on Monday. Till then!**

**Please leave a Review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Inside the Hive

I ran through Ponyville, the eyes of wandering ponies looked on as I ran by them with blinding speed. Twilight had been taken by Changelings, having close to no hope at all of knowing or being able to find and save her, Applejack renewed my hope. Now, I had to get back to the camps and start up the first operation. Who knows how far the Changelings might have taken her, she might even be in one of the camps and not the hive. I had to get to the command post as soon as possible, before she's moved from a camp... if she is in one of the camps. Exiting Ponyville, I charged up the path that lead to the Everfree Forest and went into the forest. I stopped as I came into the burnt area of the forest, looking down, I saw what remained of Jeffry's armor.

'_Celestia?_' I called out to the Princess.

'_…. Ah, yes. John?_' I heard her reply.

'_Can you have somepony come and pick up Jeffry's armor? Preferably a unicorn, touching the armor will only break it into pieces_', I said as I looked at the broken shoulder pad.

'_Yes, I'll send somepony right now. Are you headed back to the bases to start on the operation?_' Celestia asked as I heard her say something, out of the mental connection.

'_Yeah, I want to get Twilight back as soon as possible... before those Changelings do anything_', I said as I clenched my fist, but remained calm.

'_Okay, good luck_', she said as I heard her say something out of our mental connection, again.

'_Thanks_', I said as I closed off the connection.

Sighing, I got to my feet and turned towards the direction of where the bases were stationed at. My body stopped hurting slightly, but my arms and legs still ached, including my torso, where I got hit by that lighting the most. I sprinted into deeper into the forest, making my way towards the command post, which was pretty much visible over the treetops. Seeing as I had a fixed location of where it was, I leaped out of the forest and went flying over the trees. Landing on the ground with a loud thud, I looked around and saw that everypony was looking at me.

"Rainbow Dash! Where are you?" I called out for the Wonderbolt, getting up as I did so.

"Right here, do you need anything?" I heard her reply.

I saw her head pop out of the folds of the tent as she leaned out of the entrance. Jogging over to her, I showed her the pendent that Twilight had left behind when she was taken.

"Hey, isn't that-",

"Yeah, it's Twilight's pendent. We're starting the rescue missions. Now", I said, putting the pendent back into my pocket.

"Wait... is Twilight in trouble?" She asked, her face baring a serious expression.

"Yes, I think she might have been taken by Changelings", I said, earning a gasp and then, a angry look.

"Do you know where she might be? The camp she was taken to?" She asked.

"No, but we'll have to go through every camp to find her. We'll find some citizens in each camp, too. If they haven't been moved that is", I said.

"Right. Plans for the camp attacks have already been written up, all that is left is to mobilize the squads to their assigned targets", she said, trotting into the tent.

"Which camp will my squad be hitting?" I asked, pushing the tent folds to the side as I walked inside.

"You will no longer be leading a squad. Shining and I have moved you into ours, we'll be hitting the larger camps, while as the other squads without a high ranking official will be hitting smaller camps", she said as she trotted over to a wooden table with several large sheets of paper on it.

"Sounds good. When do we move out?" I asked, walking over to the table and looking down at the maps and plans that were laid out.

"Whenever you're ready. Squads have been prep'ed and stocked with the needed supplies for our attacks", Rainbow Dash said as she pulled down her hood over her head, her mane sticking out of the opening on the hood.

"Then we leave now", I said.

"Alright, lets get going", Rainbow Dash said as I followed her out of the tent.

"Alright you foals! Listen up! We hit'em hard and hit them fast! I want your flanks in and out of the camps and back at your assigned Sites!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Yes, ma'am!" She shouted back as the camp began to buzz with commotion, troops going about, moving to their assigned areas.

Smiling at Rainbow Dash's commanding skills, I looked into the forest.

'_Twilight, we're coming for you_', I said.

~Somewhere in the Changelings Hive~

I felt my hooves dragging across smooth, slimy, and wet stone as somepony or something dragged me along the dim tunnel. My vision was blurry, my mind was foggy. The blow I took to the back of my head had made my mind a bit messed up. I couldn't see or hear properly. All I could hear was the faint sounds of buzzing and the sound of water dripping from the ceiling of the tunnel or from something else.

"Where do I take this one?" I heard a voice ask.

"Take it to _his_ room. Let him deal with her since he's the one who captured her", another voice said as it snickered menacingly.

Him? Who is this him? Where am I? I tried to move my head, but I couldn't. All I could do was hanging my head and leave my limbs lifelessly hang from my body as whoever has dragging me, take me to wherever he or she was taking me. I heard the sound of screams coming from somewhere. The sound sounded as if it was coming from every direction as the screams bounced off every surface of the stone tunnel. A loud 'bang' came from something, it sounded as if something heavy and hard and slammed against the stone walls of the tunnel. I felt myself being dragged out of the tunnel and into a room of some sorts.

"Hey, I thought _his_ room had chains on the walls. Where are they?" The same voice asked.

"Must have been a rough prisoner... just tie her to the table?" Another voice suggested.

"That'll work, get me something to use. Rope or something", the other voice said as I felt myself being dragged deeper into the room.

I groggily opened my eyes, my eye lips fluttered as I tried to open my eyes all the way, trying to get a better view of where I was. Suddenly, whoever was dragging me, threw me onto something, the table I presumed.

"Come on come. I don't want to be here when _he_ comes here to _extract_ information from here. _He_ gets a bit wild at his job", the voice hissed.

"R-right, I get chills from just looking at what he does *Cackle* It must be why he was voted by the guys, as the best _interrogator_ in the colony", another voice laughed as the sound of rope sliding against the floor.

I felt something spread out my legs as I laid on my belly, moving each on my legs to one corner of the somewhat round, wooden table. Grabbing hold of my ankles, they tied something, rope I think, around them and then pulled down hard as they tied the other end to the leg of the table. Repeating the process with my other legs, they laughed as they left the room. My breathing was hard and heavy as I tried to regain my bearings. Looking around the room, my vision slightly recovered, I saw that I was in what seemed to be a cave. The room was dimly lit by what seemed to be a torch, the flames on it was small and weak, barely able to light up even half of the room. I heard a loud 'bang' come from where I was dragged into the room.

I tried to pull my legs away from the restraints, but I was too weak to do so. Even if I was fully conscious, I wouldn't be able to pull my legs out of the ropes anyways. My mouth was starting to become parch as I laid on top of the table, waiting for something to happen.

"Hmm, the door to my room's closed... did one of you guys bring in someone for me to _interrogate_?" A voice asked, it was a slightly loud voice, but smooth.

"Yes, Sir. We've brought in a captive, the one you captured sometime this morning", another voice said.

"Okay, leave this area. It's going to get loud in there", a voice said.

I gulped as I heard the sounds of several hooves galloping away quickly as the 'door' opened. My vision had returned enough that I could see that the door was actually a large, round stone slab... or wheel of some sorts. I watched as a single, tall, slightly bulky, Changeling walked into the room. It was the same Changeling that I saw before I blacked out! The one with the scar across his face. I watched as he slowly came towards me, giving me a slightly confused look as he looked over my body, wondering why I was tied to a table. He now loomed over me, lowering his head so that he was eye to eye with me, he opened his mouth.

"Hi there", he said.

~Target One~

"Bring it down!" I shouted over the roar of the flames.

Right now were were hitting one of the Changelings prime bases. Thankfully, we had found some captives before I had ordered the burning of the camp. All Changelings were killed, I didn't allow a single one to live, seeing as these things took Twilight away.

"I don't want a single damn thing going unburned!" I shouted.

"Sir, yes Sir!" They shouted as the unicorns used fire spells on everything, the pegasi flapping their wings on it, fueling the flames with oxygen.

"And for the last god damn time, stop calling me Sir!" I shouted as I clapped my hands together at a pile of crates.

A shockwave emitted from my hands, blowing the burning crates into pieces. I watched as the bits of wood fall to the floor and burn up.

"Rainbow Dash, Target One has been successfully hit. Captives had been rescued and moved back to the command post", I shouted out.

"Good. Alright, everypony! I want all of you to head on back to the command post. Shining Armor, John, and I will stay for a while", Rainbow Dash shouted as she touched down beside me.

"Yes, ma'am!" They shouted back as they all galloped or trotted out of the ruined Changeling camp.

"So, first attack was a complete success, no casualties, too", I said as I swung my sword hard, removing the green blood from the blade.

"Yeah... but we didn't find Twilight in this one...", Rainbow Dash said, sighing as she landed by my side.

"You think any of the others found her in the camps they were assigned to attack?" I asked, sheathing my sword.

A loud banging noise could be heard as Shining Armor angrily smashed a charred tree trunk. I had told him of what had happened with his sister, it was before we left our main camp. He started to go wild when we fought the Changelings, even more wild than I was when we were in the Gryphon Kingdom. I sighed as I walked over to him, making my way over bits of wood and blackened stone. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I pulled him back as he was about to stomp down on a dead Changelings head.

"Shining, calm down. We'll find her", I said, trying to calm him down.

"They have my sister... I won't stop until I find her, and kill every damn Changeling!" He said.

"Oi, if you keep on fighting like this, you'll just wear yourself out and that'll make it easier for the Changelings to kill you. How are you going to save her if you don't calm down? Don't worry, I'll make sure that she gets back to us safely", I said.

"*Sigh* …. You're right... but you better save some Changelings for me", he said, giving me a light smile.

"That's better", I chuckled as I patted him on his shoulder.

"Come on, let's go back to the command post. Maybe the other squads found her in their targets", I said as I stepped over some charred wood.

I walked through the forest with the two of them. We kept our guard up, in case any Changelings had fled the battle and hid in the trees, but I didn't feel anything. So we were sort of in the safe zone... for now.

"So, what's next?" I asked, looking over at Rainbow Dash for the lay out of the future plans.

"Well, we've got another attack scheduled for tomorrow", she said.

"Wait... we're going with our attacks based on a schedule?" I asked.

"Well yeah, we need to give time for our troops to rest, we're not like you, mister 'I can take on an entire army'", Rainbow Dash mocked as she gave me a nickname.

"Yes, yes I can take on an entire army", I chuckled.

"But! I do rest, too. Guess we'll take a break for today", I said.

The two nodded as we walked through the forest.

'_Twilight... I hope you're safe..._', I sighed as I looked up into the darkening sky.

~Changeling Hive~

I just stared at him. He just said hello and just stood there, staring back at me. It was if he was waiting for me to say something.

"So... uh, again. I'm sorry", he said, walking over to the wall, I just noticed that there where three wooden chairs and two leather saddlebags lined against the wall.

"...", I just glared at him.

"Come on, I said sorry", he sighed as he dragged a chair back towards the table.

"... Why do you keep saying you're sorry?" I asked, keeping my hard glare at him as he placed the chair in front of me.

"Well... I did kidnap you, didn't I?" He asked.

"Yeah, but why would you apologize to me?" I asked.

"Well, one things for sure. I'm VERY good at what I do, stuff like kidnapping, interrogating, stuff like that, but I don't like doing that stuff to ponies", he sighed as he sat down on the chair.

"Then why did you do it?" I asked.

'_He's trying to act all nice to me... probably part of his plan to get information out of me... but I have nothing of value that I know_', I thought as I watched him rub the back of his neck.

"Well, you ponies are pretty interesting to me. The way you all live, go about your lives, how you get your food. We Changelings feed off of love, the way your kind do things are weird to me. I actually like learning about your kind", he said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Er, why? I just said why... to be more exact. I don't like hurt you pony. To hurt such an advanced race... seems kind of stupid", he said.

"Then why do you do it?" I asked.

"Well, I have to. If I don't follow orders, I get kicked out of the hive. No colony to look towards for help means I have no food. No food is a big no no", he laughed slightly.

"Then... why aren't you doing anything to me?" I asked, curious as to why this Changeling was different than the others.

"Well, there are two reasons why I don't want to do anything to you. One, you're a pony. Two... you're a female. Isn't it wrong for males to hurt a female?" He said.

"It is... but won't you get in trouble for not doing your job?" I asked.

"Aw, are you worried about me?" He laughed.

'_Pony feathers! I fell into his trap_', I glared at him.

"Jeez, stop with the glaring. Don't worry, I already told the Guards outside to leave this area. So none of them will know, I'll still be okay", he said as he walked over to the wall again.

"... what if one of them comes in and sees that I'm still the way I looked before they put me in here?' I asked.

"Ha, nothing a little dirt on the face can't fix", he chuckled as he rummaged through the bags, but took nothing out.

"... if you find my race so interesting, and you won't hurt me. Why don't you just let me leave this place?" I asked, hopping that he would let me go.

"That's not happening. I'll be in trouble if I do that", he said as he walked back over to me.

"Oh... I'm just wondering. How did you know what Jeffry looked like?" I asked, curious as to how he knew what Jeffry looked like.

"Eh, one of the scouts who had been scouting that town of yours saw that you were depressed, thinking that you would have been an easy target. So he kept following you over and over for a day or two. He reported everything to me, so that I could change into him", he said as he sat back down on the chair.

"But why make you do it?" I asked, wondering why the scout couldn't do it himself.

"Well, I'm the only other Changeling who can change into something other than a pony, other than my mother, the Queen", he said.

"How come?" I asked.

"Well... I'm the only one of the first of the hatchling that the Queen had", he sighed.

"One of the only?" I asked.

"The others died, I was the only one to survive", he said.

"Oh... sorry", I said, feeling slightly sad.

Silence filled the room as we came upon nothing else to talk to... why was I even talking to him? I had my own worries and emotions to battle. I still had to find a way to get over the fact that Jeffry was dead... five months and I still haven't gotten over it yet. Well, love changes a pony. Would I ever get out of this place? Even if I die... at least I wouldn't have to live on without Jeffry by my side. Wait, Jeffry wouldn't want me to die... would he? He wouldn't want me to leave my friends... I laughed to myself slightly, the Changeling looked at me as I did. I thought a lot about my decisions now, all wondering what Jeffry would think of me if I did whatever I thought. Has he always had such an impact on my life? Jeffry...

"Well, I'm going to go now. Don't worry about any other Changeling from coming in, I'll make sure the others know that I'll be the only one to interrogate you, so you'll be safe for the time being", he said as he gout of his chair.

He walked towards the stone door, pushing it to the side, it rolled out of the way. Before he walked out of the room, I called out to him.

"Wait... thank you... um...?" I said, not knowing his name.

"The name's Chipper. You're welcome", he said, giving me a light smile.

"Thank you... Chipper", I said softly.

He smiled and gave me a nod before he left the room. I watched as the stone slide back into place. I sighed, at least I would be safe for now. He doesn't seem like a bad... Changeling? I can't let my guard down, for all I know, this could be a trick he's trying to do to make me give him some information, but even if I did, what did he want? I hope the others find me before anything happens... were they even looking for me? I didn't know. All I could do now is wait. I yawned as I felt myself become slightly tired.

'_Must have become night... must be why he left. I'll go to sleep for now_', I thought as I laid my head on the old wooden surface of the table, and closed my eyes.

**Yay, Chapter 4 :D Hope you guys liked this chapter. I'll try to get another chapter out soon, maybe Monday or Tuesday. Depending on how busy I get. School days = there will be slower updates, seeing as School work likes to take away my attention from writing :O**

**Please leave a Review!**


	5. Chapter 5: Stranger to a Fight?

The night sky, the night air, all so calming... yet frightful. The night held unknown things that I have yet to discover. I sighed as I leaned back, my armor clinking as it touched the tree trunk as I leaned back. Rapping my fist against the tree trunk, I thought of how Twilight might be handling herself. We have no information on her location, or on her current condition. Reaching up, I plucked a greenish acorn, it had yet to become ripe. I juggled the acorn across my fingers as I let out a sigh. Looking up into the sky, I gazed upon the stars.

'_What will I do if I end up failing with the rescue? What if I lose Twilight..._', I thought as I stopped juggling the acorn and left it on my palm.

The very thought of losing another part of Jeffry, something that only Twilight held, something in here heart. She held a part of Jeffry than no one else could ever get, or experience... the love he felt for her. I wasn't going to lose another thing of Jeffry, even if it was something that had no value to us, but her own person held a unimaginable price to her friends. The thought of losing her to those dreadful, monstrous, Changelings made my blood boil. Crushing the acorn in my hand, I glared at my palm, imagining that the acorn being the head of a Changeling. Sighing, I opened my palm, the acorn was nothing more than dust and tiny fragments of the once intact, green shell.

"Can't sleep?" I heard a voice ask.

"Nope... what about you, Rainbow Dash?" I asked as she flew up into the tree.

"Well, it's not easy to sleep knowing that one of your best friends is being held captive by Changelings", she laughed softly as she rested her hunches on the branch that I sat on.

"I feel that... do you think we'll be able to get her back?" I asked, losing the hope I had earned from Applejack's words.

"I'm not sure, but I won't fail without trying", she said.

"Heh, same here...", I said as I tilted my hand downwards, allowing the remains of the once whole acorn, to fall to the ground.

"Come on, let's get back to the command post. We've got another target to hit, it's a big one too. Scouts have reported that the Changelings in the camp have moved it towards us", she said as she flexed her wings a bit.

"They moved their entire camp?" I laughed at the thought of something like that.

"Apparently", she said.

"Oh, I thought you were kidding", I said as I laughed awkwardly.

"... I've had enough for today, back to the camp?" I asked, leaning off of the tree.

"Yeah, back to the camp", she said as she dropped down from the branch, unfolding her wings to stop her from crashing onto the grassy floor of the forest.

I on the other hand, dropped like a rock. Giving off a loud thud as I landed on my feet. I stood up and leaned my head back, folding my arms behind my head as I walked by her side, back towards the camp.

As we walked through the forest to get back to the command post, I began to wonder. Rainbow Dash has gone up so high in the rankings that she was now second in command of the Wonderbolts, how was she holding up? She seemed to be doing fine, finally able to live her dream. The gift that Jeffry had given to her had allowed her to live her dreams, while as I just got her tickets to see the Wonderbolts. Always out shining me one way or another, aye Jeffry? Even copying my ideas for several of the gifts I got for the girls. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the pendent that I had picked up, Twilight's gift from Jeffry. Rubbing the surface of the gem, I watched as the gem glowed.

"Hey, what'cha got there?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked back at me.

"Twilight's pendent... it's glowing for some reason", I said as I looked at the gem, turning it over and looking at it some more.

Suddenly, the gem gave off a large spark, stinging my hand.

"Ow!" I yelped as I quickly dropped the pendent, clenching my hand.

Rainbow Dash and I watched as the pendent glowed brighter and suddenly shot a thin beam into the air, that then shot off to the side in, not even curving as it changed its course, it bent into a corner as it zig-zaged through the air. We looked at each other and then at the pendent.

"Oh crap.. the pendents drained of Jeffry's magic, too... is that thief still in the forest?" I growled as I whipped around, looking to see if that scum bag was around.

"I don't see anypony... maybe the gem just reacted to you? Your magic?" Rainbow Dash said.

"... I want to think that...", I said as I spat at the ground, turning towards her again.

"Come on, lets get back to the camp", I sighed as I pushed the thought of the thief being here, away.

Suddenly, a snap camp from behind us. Spinning around, I swung my fist as I coated it with my magic and molded it into a spiked glove. I stopped midway as my fist sent out a blast of air from the sheer force of my fist. It was only one of Jeffry's skeleton soldiers. I swear, one day I'm going to end up blowing up a portion of this freaking forest if I get surprised by one of these again. It walked away, I noticed that its hooves were covered in green blood, most likely it had killed off a Changeling or two. At least these things were proving to be useful to some degree. We made it back to the camp and went different directions as we went into our tents. I shared a tent with Shining Armor, while as Rainbow Dash had a tent all to herself.

I walked over to the green hammock like bed and laid down, not bothering to take off my armor or pull the blanket over myself. Folding my arms behind my head, I sighed as I looked up at the ceiling of the tent, in the dark.

"John, is that you?" I heard Shining Armor ask.

"Yeah, you need something?" I asked, looking towards the left side of the tent where Shinings bed was.

"... just wondering who it was", he said, an obvious lie.

His voice sounded off, as if he had been in deep thought, it was filled with stress and anger.

"Shining, you're lying. Come on, tell me. We're friends", I said propping myself up with my elbows.

"*Sigh*... I"m worried... worried about my sister", he said.

"We all are...", I said.

"I can't help but feel as if her being kidnapped is my fault", he said.

"You're wrong, it's my fault. I swore to myself that I would protect the girls in Jeffry's place, but I failed my own words", I said as I laid back down.

"But I'm her brother. The Captain of the Royal Guard for crying out loud! Yet I couldn't protect my one and only sister", he said.

"Hey, stop beating yourself up over this. You weren't there to protect her, none of us were. There was nothing we could do to stop it. But, we're here for her now. Together, we can get her back", I said.

"... I guess you're right... thanks for listening", he said.

"No problem, that's what friends are for, right?" I said as I folded my arms behind my head and closed my eyes.

"Yeah... right", he said.

I sighed as I closed my eyes. I just hope we can get her back, for all we know she could be dead...

~Changeling Hive~

My ear twitched as I heard the door slide open slowly. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was the Changeling again, Chipper. I lifted my head up and watched as he walked over to the chair that was still in front of me. I stared as he sat down on the chair.

"Sorry for waking you up", he said.

"... You don't sleep?" I asked, it shouldn't have been too long since I went to sleep.

"Well, Changelings don't sleep. We can't sleep", he said.

"Why?" I asked, curious as to how a race is unable to go to sleep.

"I don't know, we just can't?" He said, shrugging.

"Well... why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm kind of bored? Don't really have anything to do, I don't have any orders from my Queen yet, so I'm free to go about doing whatever I want at the moment", he said as he rubbed the top of his head.

"So you just came here... to talk?" I asked, slightly annoyed at the fact that I could have been asleep.

"Well. Yeah. I want to know about your race", he said, leaning forward slightly.

"... Okay... what do you want to know?" I asked.

"Is it true that you can make things work on their own? Things like... stuff called machines?" He asked.

"Well, yeah", I said as he began to laugh.

"I know it! Your race is really clever with things like that. We Changelings can't really do anything like that", he said.

"Well... how do you live in these conditions?" I asked.

"Well, we get what we need from you ponies... _love_, for our food. And for water, we just go to rivers and such", he said.

"Oh...", I said.

This was actually kind of interesting. Such a cruel and barbaric race having knowledge on what to do. How to use their environment to their advantage.

"Oh, who is this Jeffry person exactly? For all I know is he's your friend?" He asked, my heart sank at the mention of Jeffry's name like that, coming from him.

"... He's not my friend... he was my coltfriend... well, boyfriend is what he would be called in his world", I said, lowering my head.

"So he's from a different world?" He asked, his voice filled with interest.

Was the information he wanted? I didn't care anymore, at least I had somepony to talk to about Jeffry, other than my friends who were also depressed about his loss.

"Yeah, I accidentally brought them into this world by a spell that I miscast because of one of my friends who scared me just as I was about to cast it", I said.

"Because I brought them here... it's all my fault that Jeffry's dead", I said as I began to cry.

"Hey, hey. Don't cry, it's not your fault", he said, getting up from the chair.

"It is my fault! He was here because of me! And now he's dead because of me! I took him from his old life and ended his in this world!" I shouted at him, causing him to back up a little.

"Hey, he was happy right?" He asked, I lifted my head at him.

"Well... I remember him saying that his old life wasn't as good...", I said as I sniffed, tears flowing down my cheeks.

"See, you made his life better. Sure he died, but at least you managed to make his life a lot better in this world", he said, placing his hoof on my shoulder.

"... I guess, but he's still dead", I said, feeling slight better.

"At least he got to meet nice ponies as friends, right?" He said, smiling.

"... You're right... thank you", I said, smiling up at him a little as well.

"No problem, I'll come back tomorrow morning. Bye", he said as he walked towards the door.

I watched as he left the room, sliding the stone slab back into place as he left. Maybe he wasn't so bad... but still, need to keep my guard up for anything that might come my way. Who knows what he might do with that information. Still... he doesn't seem to have any ill intentions.

~Time Skip: 5 am~

~Command Post~

I scratched my head as I heard some buzzing and faint shouting in the background. Pushing it aside, I tried to go back to sleep. In the end, I didn't get to go back to sleep, the noise was far to loud... and I felt a bit hot. Sighing, I propped myself up and saw that the tent was dimly lit in a greenish light. Figures, seeing as the sun would make the inside of the tent look green when the light shines through the tents green fabric. Though, something felt a bit off, the light inside the tent seemed to dance. The shouting continued as I heard a low rumble and an explosion coming from somewhere. Suddenly, I felt the entire tent shake, Shining bolted upwards as he felt the earth shake beneath us.

"Hey, John. What the hay is going on?" He asked, yawning as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I don't know, but I keep hearing shouts and the freaking tent keeps shaking. You think the troops outside are doing something?" I asked, sighing as I threw my legs over the crappy, green, hammock like bed.

"It's a bit early for them to be awake. Our operation doesn't start... for maybe another hour or so?" He said as he slipped out of bed, his armor clinking against his body as he stretched.

"Should be che *Crash***** Oh shit!" I exclaim as a body shot through the side of the tent and smashed into several crates.

"Hey, what the fuck is going on outside?" I asked the fallen Guard.

"W-we're under... at-attack by the Cha-C-Changelings", he stuttered before he blacked out, his fur was covered in blood.

"Changelings? Shining, let's go!" I exclaimed as I ran out of the hole in the tent, unsheathing both of my swords.

I froze at what I saw, the entire camp was surrounded by green flames, shouting could be heard as Changelings and Guards fought one another. Both sides losing a piece of its force as they fell one by one. Quickly swinging my sword, I sliced a Changeling in half as it leaped at me, its body fell behind me.

"Shining! See if you can organize what troops you can to put out this fucking fire", I shouted as I drove one sword into a Changelings neck.

"Got it", he said as he ran off.

Forming my wings, I leaped into the air, the Changelings body fell off of my blade as the force of my jump had caused it to slip off of the blade. Sheathing my swords, I pointed my hands downward. Firing several blasts of my magic, I aimed them at the Changeling forces. My attacks all made contact, but they still lived. Swearing to myself, I readied myself to fire again, but was interrupted as something whizzed past me, falling towards the ground. I watched as the strange object hit the floor, creating a small explosion of green flames. Looking up, I saw Changelings diving down at me, their bodies covered in green flames.

"Oh shi-", I grunted as one of the diving Changelings struck me.

Both falling towards the ground, I quickly grabbed hold of the Changelings neck with my hands and swung him downward. He struck the ground first, his body splatting out green blood as I pushed him down as we hit the floor. Standing up, I formed a pistol with my magic and began firing at Changelings as they began to surround me. Growling, I changed back to my swords and got into a fighting stance.

"Alright now, bring it on!" I shouted as I charged forward, spinning my body as I swung both of my swords.

~Changeling Hive~

I sighed as I sat down on a blob of green goo. It was morning and I didn't really have anything to do. I could go talk to that unicorn that I had captured a few days back. I was starting to feel guilty for what I did... but why? It's my duty to help provide for the colony, for my brethren. Speaking of which, I was starting to get hungry, guess I could spend some time with getting something to eat. Of course, that meant going into the storage chamber to get one of those storage crystals. Not too long ago, one of the scouts have discovered a certain crystal that could store the love energy of ponies and other creatures inside of it and save it for when needed. This meant I didn't have to take it directly from a pony, which was pretty good. I never liked hurting ponies to begin with. Getting up from the goo I was sitting on, I made my way down the stone corridor.

I past several of my fellow Changelings, each of them nodding to me. Seeing as I was their superior officer. Being one of the first to be born had its perks. You got to give orders, have others look up to you, even better, you get to do almost anything you wanted. Life was pretty great... minus the fact that I had to hurt ponies from time to time to keep up my standing amongst my brothers.

"Hey, did you hear? The Queen had a large attack ordered on the ponies command center", I heard one of my brothers cackle from somewhere.

"Yeah, wish I was there. All of those ponies, just waiting to be killed", I heard another one of my brothers respond, disgusting...

Shaking my head, I sighed as I walked down the tunnel, towards the storage chambers. Life was... _good_.

~Command Post~

I hissed through my teeth as I held my arm. A Changeling had gotten a good swipe at me and bruised my arm pretty bad. These things sure can pack a punch. I rolled to the side, dodging a falling Changeling as it blew a hole in the ground. I heard several Guards exclaim at the sky, I heard a loud rumbling as I looked up. Eye twitching, I watched as several Changelings join together and fall down, all engulfed in the same green flame. Crossing my swords above my head, I formed a barrier around myself as I readied myself for the incoming attack. I should be dodging, but my legs were sore, aching, and bleeding. As they struck the ground, my barrier began to crack, and then chipped apart as I was blown away from the sheer force of the blast.

I panted as I pushed myself up, the camp was no longer what it was. It was now a giant crater, bodies and pieces of the equipment that once served a purpose were no littered inside the barrier.

"John!" I heard Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash call out as they came towards me, both of them were in a bad state.

I watched as they were tackled to the ground by several Changelings. Reaching out to them, I felt a Changeling pounce on my back, pounding at my back, denting my armor slightly. Clawing at the dirt, I tried to turn myself over to punch the bastard in the face, but couldn't as another pinned me down in place. Another Changeling walked up to my head. Lifting his black hoof above my head, it burst into flames and then died down, a sharp limb now took the once blunt hoofs' place.

'_No! I can't die now! Twilight still needs us!_' I snarled as I tried to push myself up.

Just as the Changeling brought his hoof down, a 'twufh' sound came. The Changeling then collapsed, it's face barely touching mines, a black object was sticking out of its forehead. The sounds came again as more Changelings fell. A loud screech came from all around us. Looking up, I saw that the entire rim of the crater was surrounded by the skeleton soldiers. The Changelings on my back fell off as they were struck by the same black object. Pushing myself up, I looked down at the Changeling and noticed that it was an arrow... a black arrow.

'_No... it can't be_', I said as I watched as the Changelings on Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor were all fired upon.

I watched as more arrows showered the Changelings, some tried to run, but were cornered and attacked by the skeleton ponies. Following the line of fire, my mouth dropped open as I was shocked at what I saw. Standing in between two skeleton ponies... was Jeffry.

"No way...", I said as I watched Jeffry shot more arrows from his bow.

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**Chapter 5 :D Jeez, seriously you guys. I swear, some of you are psychic. I did originally planned to bring Jeffry back. All will be explained in later chapters though. So don't go being your psychic selves and messing it up for me to write xD.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	6. Chapter 6: You Help Me, I Help You

**Yay for quick chapters :D I managed to write this entire chapter in about less than three hours! So expect some little errors... not like there aren't any in all of my chapters xD**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

An arrow whizzed past my head as it shot a Changeling that tried to come up behind me.

'_Ha ha! The son of a bitch is back!_' I cheered internally.

"Alright boys! Give 'em hell!" I shouted, bringing out my swords.

The remaining forces we had left let out a cheer and began to push back on the Changeling forces. Jeffry put away his bow, with a flick of his wrist, all of the skeleton soldiers roared and then charged into the crater. They trampled Changelings as they charged down, tackling several to the ground. Swinging my sword at the ground, I sent a rain of stone upon the Changelings. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash had gotten up already and were now fighting as well. An explosion blew me forward, but I remained standing as I landed on my feet. Looking up, I saw that there were still more Changelings that were raining down on us. Leaping into the air, I swung my sword, cleaving the Changelings into two as they dove down at the ground. Just as I was about to strike down another Changeling, an arrow whizzed past me and struck the Changeling at the side of its face, encasing its head in a giant shard of ice.

Grabbing hold of the Changelings leg, I swung him hard, throwing him towards the ground. Crashing into another Changeling on the ground, bits of ice and blood splattered everywhere around its body as its frozen head shattered. Landing on my feet, I slowly got up. The battle was already ours, Changelings were fleeing into the forest, while as others were still being killed by our forces. Once the last Changeling had been killed, we all let out a cry of victory.

"Ha ha, I can't believe it, he's alive!" I said as I looked up at Jeffry, who was still at the rim of the crater.

"Is that really him?" Shining Armor asked as he walked over to me with a slight limp in his step.

"That has to be, I can feel the same magic coming from him. Plus, he's using his bow. No one can do that, other than himself", I laughed as I walked towards him.

Rainbow Dash flew by us as we walked towards Jeffry. Something was off with him though, he didn't seem happy that the battle was won. He bore an expressionless face, showing no signs of happiness in anyway. Out of the corner of his eye, I saw us coming. Raising his bow towards us, he readied an arrow.

"Whoa there, Jeffry. What are you doing?" I asked, raising my hands to my face.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Jeffry, it's me. John? Don't you remember?" I asked, slightly confused.

"So my name is Jeffry... stay back", he said, pulling back on his bow harder.

"Come on, quit fucking aro-", I stopped as an arrow whizzed past my face, grazing my cheek and drawing a fine red line across my face.

"Dude, what the fuck is going on with you?" I asked as I placed my hand on my cheek.

"I don't know who any of you are", he said, pulling back on his bow again.

"We saw him die, John. Do you think he came back somehow?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah... you don't think that he lost his memories?" I asked, just realizing the possibility.

"Hey, Jeff. Come on, put that down. We're your friends", I said, taking another step towards him.

"I SAID STAY BACK!" He shouted as his arrow turned blue.

Firing the arrow at me, the arrow struck my shoulder. Ice shot out from my shoulder, completely icing over my shoulder and a glaze of ice covered the side of my face. I hissed as I clenched at the ice, Jeffry slowly walked into the shadows. The skeleton soldiers walked out of the crater and into the forest as well. What the hell just happened?

"John, are you okay?" Shining asked.

"What's his problem?" Rainbow Dash said.

"I don't know, but don't let him get away", I panted as I dropped to one knee.

The pain I was feeling from this ice was too much. Clenching my fist, I struck the ice, shattering it. Chunks of ice fell to the ground as it broke away from my shoulder. Thankfully, I still had some intact pieces of my armor covering my shoulder, or else I would have lost an arm. But really, did he seriously lose all of his memories? Pushing the two out of my way, I charged up the slanted surface and leaped out of the crater.

"Where are you going?" I heard Shining ask as the two scrambled out of the crater after me.

"We can't let him get away", I said as I ran into the forest.

Charging past trees, pushing aside hanging vines. I scanned the forest as I ran, hopping to find Jeffry. I wasn't going to just lose him after we just found him. Twilight is going to be so happy that he's back! But how was he back? I'll ask him later, but first I need to ask him about his memories, did he really lose them, or is he just fucking around? Spotting him, I ran towards him. He still had several of his skeleton soldiers by his side.

'_How does he not have his memories, yet he can use his powers like he did a few months back... and how the hell is he able to control these things?_' I wondered as I ran towards him.

Just as I was in arms reach of him, I reached out to him. Jeffry swung his arm backwards, a scythe in his hand. I stopped as the blade curved around my neck. He slowly turned to look at me... he was crying?

"Jeffry... are you okay?" I asked, gulping as he pressed the blade against my throat.

"Am I really this Jeffry person?" He asked, glaring at me as tears continued to flow down his cheeks.

"Y-yeah, why are you crying?" I asked, placing my hand on the blade, but quickly removed my hand as he pressed the blade harder against my neck.

"I don't know... these feelings... my heart. It feels like somethings missing from myself...", he breathed heavily as he placed his hand on his forehead, scrunching some of his hair as he clenched his fist.

"Do you not remember who we are?" I heard Shining Armor ask as he and Rainbow Dash came closer.

Several skeleton soldiers shot forward, snarling at them as they surrounded the two.

"No... I don't know who you all are... what am I? ANSWER ME DAMMIT!" He shouted, tears flowing down his face.

"Here", I said as I took out the grayish pendent that was once Twilight's pendent.

"What is it?" He asked, shaking his head.

"Take it, maybe you can get back some memories from this?" I said as I dropped into his hand.

Not taking the blade off of my neck, he looked over the pendent. Suddenly, the gem of the pendent turned back into its dark black color, it gave off a powerful magical presence as Jeffry's magic began to pour into the gem. He eyed the gem as it did so.

"This... seems familiar", he said as he held the pendent in his hand.

"Are you remembering anything?" I asked, hope filled me at the thought of him remembering who he really was.

"...-!" He suddenly dropped to his knees, he shouted as he held the sides of his head.

His scythe dropped to the floor and burst into flames as it disappeared. The skeleton soldiers all screeched and then suddenly fell apart. The three of us backed away as Jeffry's body suddenly started to glow a dark black hue. Suddenly, we were all pushed back by an invisible force. This force knocked over several surrounding trees. I sliced a tree that was about to fall on us, the two pieces parted. Once the sudden outburst stopped, we looked over at Jeffry, he was lying on the grass facedown.

"Jeffry!" I exclaimed, running towards him.

Pushing him over, I saw that his eyes were still open, but his eye was white completely. I shook him in attempt to wake him up. The color in his eyes slowly returned. He suddenly reached up and grabbed hold of my shoulder pad, pulling down.

"What am I? Tell me... please", he said as he fell back onto the grass, going unconscious.

"Shining Armor, get a med group over from another Site, now!" I shouted at him.

"Got it", he said as he galloped into the forest.

I turned back to Jeffry, his breathing was quick and rasp.

'_Jeez, you come back just to give us hell?_' I thought as I set him down on the grass.

~Changeling Hive~

After I finished the last of what was left in the crystal, I tossed it aside. I had just finished eating, but the taste didn't come out as well as it usually did. Yes, _love_ had a taste. I usually enjoyed the taste, but ever since I started talking to that unicorn, feeling guilty for what I did to her, everything started to change for me as I went about my business in the hive. I wandered about, my mind wasn't set on anything anymore, I kept wondering about her... the grief that I had caused her. Was it really right to hurt another race in order to support my brethren? Is it right for one race to suffer for the benefits of another race? The thought pondered my thought as I sat on a chair, leaning against a wall when I was eating. I sighed as I pushed away the troubling thoughts, knowing that they would come back and push my mind away, forcing me to think over my life.

I watched as my brothers run past me, going to their assigned missions and orders. Either to go attack other pony camps, or kidnap more ponies from the towns. Taking ponies was no longer anyones mission, seeing as their camps have blocked off our routes. Even if we were to get past them, coming back with captives would be nearly impossible to do so without being caught and then killed. Thankfully, the hive had more than enough food in store for the entire hive. I sighed again as I leaned my head against the wall.

"Sir, are you okay?" One of my comrades asked.

"Yeah... I'm okay", I said, turning my head to him.

"Private... do you ever think that what we do is bad?" I asked.

"Not really, it is bad, but it's for the sake of the colony... right?" He asked as he scratched the top of his head.

"Why do you ask?" He asked.

"... no reason, you may leave now", I sighed as I closed my eyes.

"Yes Sir", he said as he got up from his chair and walked off, disappearing into the shadows.

I pushed myself off of my chair and walked out of the storage chamber. Maybe some time with the unicorn can help me think over what I have done. Of course, talking to her wouldn't put her back with her friends... did I take her away from her family? All of this dreadful thoughts of how I might have impacted her family... her friends... it all came to me in huge waves of grief and guilt. All of the ponies that I was forced to kill... all of their families that had to suffer because of what I did in the past. Was this all the right thing to do? At the price of hundreds of ponies? …. For once in my life... I felt disgusted of myself. That unicorn was also in so much pain when I kidnapped her... like really, losing someone she loved and then getting kidnapped.

Took me a while to notice that I was already at the room, staring the doorway. Shooing the Guards away, I sighed and then pushed the door to the side. Walking inside the room, I watched as the unicorn lifted her head up to look at me.

"Hey...", I just noticed that I don't even know her name.

"Hey, Chipper...", she said, her voice sounded cracked at certain pitches.

"I never asked for your name... mind telling me it?" I asked as I pushed the door back into place.

I should at least know her name, right?

"... My name is Twilight Sparkle... my friends just call me Twilight, for short", she said, her voice cracked all over the place.

"Okay, Twilight Sparkle... mind talking to me?" I asked as I walked over to the bags that were still by the door.

"Sure", she said as she watched me take out a canteen, her ears perked up as she saw me uncap the canteen and take a drink out of it.

"... do you want a drink?" I asked, placing the canteen down, she nodded.

"Okay, hold on a moment", I said as I went over to the other bag and fumbled around inside of it, looking for another canteen.

"Ah ha", I exclaimed as I pulled another canteen out.

Walking over to her, I uncapped the canteen, but stopped as I looked over her position. How the hell was I going to give her a drink if she was like this? I couldn't untie her, even though I wanted to free her from that uncomfortable position. Suddenly, an idea came into my head. Placing one of my hoofs under the front of the table, near her head. I lifted the table up with little effort, she let out a 'eep' at the sudden rise.

"Here", I said as I held the table up as I reached down with my other hoof and lifted the canteen up.

Placing the canteen opening to her lips, I tilted the back of the canteen up a little, allowing the water inside to pour out into her waiting maw. Taking large gulps of the cold liquid, she downed every last drop. Taking the canteen away, I set the empty container on the floor. Slowly lowering the table, I set the front legs back down on the ground.

"Feel any better?" I asked.

"Yes... thank you", she said with a light smile.

"Your welcome", I said as I sat down on my chair.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked.

"I have... several things I want to talk about", I said.

~Ruined Command Post~

We had managed to put up another makeshift tent to let Jeffry rest in. I was outside, talking to one of the medics.

"So, you think he'll be okay?" I asked, biting my nails, hopping for the best.

"Yes, Sir Jeffry will be fine. He's just very stressed out from the looks of it", he said as he packed his supplies back into his pack.

"What about his memories? Know anything about that?" I asked, looking at the tent.

"No... that's something that I can't fix. Maybe in time it will return?" He said.

"Bye, I have other patients to attend to", he said as he trotted off.

I sighed as I shook my head. Something good happened, but also came with a bite in the ass bad thing. Walking into the tent, I looked inside. Rainbow Dash sat by Jeffry's side, his breathing had slowed down, you could no longer hear him breathe in and out like a mad man anymore. She looked up at me, her face filled with sadness for her friend.

"You think he'll be able to get back his memories?" She asked, placing her hoof on the edge of the crappiest bed in the world.

"I don't know", I sighed as I dropped down, sitting on a crate.

Taking out the pendent that had returned to its original state, I juggled it on my fingers as I thought of what we could do. Looking down at the gem, I stopped and pinched the sides. Lifting it up to my face, I got an idea.

"Hey, remember the memory book that Jeffry made for Twilight?" I asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" She asked, turning to me.

"Well, he used his magic to make the book", I said, her face lit up as she caught on.

"And he used his magic to copy the memories of him and Twilight together!" She exclaimed, bolting upright.

"What if I take the memories out of the book and put them into Jeffry's mind?" I said, getting excited at the thought of this plan working.

"And then, maybe he'll remember everything! And then those gaps in his memories that he mentioned might get filled! That's a great idea!" She exclaimed.

"Come on, wake the moron up. We're going to Ponyville!" I laughed as I rubbed my hands together.

"Why don't we just bring him there? He can do with some more rest", she said.

"Eh... sure", I said as I walked over to him.

~Changeling Hive~

A single tear flowed down my cheek. Twilight had told me a lot of her life, how her life changed when she lost this Jeffry person. That's it, I'm going to do something. Hopefully, this would make up for what I did for her.

"Twilight Sparkle... do you trust me?" I asked.

"... at the least bit... a little", she said, looking away from me.

"I'm wondering... would you help me if I help you?" I asked.

"... that depends... what do you want in return?" She asked.

"I want you to promise me... if I do help you... that you will help me around that town...", I said.

"Huh?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I'll explain later, I'll go get something from my quarters", I said as I got out of my chair and walked to the door and pushed it to the side.

Walking out, I saw one of my brothers walk down the hall.

*P.O.V. Change: Twilight*

'_What did he mean by tha-_',

"Hey, make sure no one goes in here. I'm going to my chambers to get my _bag_", I heard Chipper say.

"You're _bag_? Is the captive this tough?" Another Changeling said.

'_I knew it! He was tricking me!_' I glared at the doorway.

After several minutes of waiting, I watched as Chipper dragged in a large leather bag, roughly my size, several objects poked at the hard leather surface, crating small peaks. Closing the door, I watched as he opened the covering of the bag and dumped the contents out. I gulped as I saw tools that looked as if they were used for torturing.

"W-what did you say you wanted from me?" I stuttered, watching as he grabbed a knife from the pile.

"I want you to help me live like a pony", he said as he walked over to me.

"What?" I asked, no longer scared, but just plain confused.

I watched as he disappeared out of my field of view and walked behind me. I shut my eyes as I felt him lift the front part of his body and set himself on the table. Gasping, I felt him touch my back legs. Bracing myself for anything he might do, I felt the ropes get tighter, but suddenly began to slack. I heard a loud thud when the rope loosened. I heard another thud as the other rope got looser. Chipper leaped off of the table and walked in front of my. Placing the knife on top of the rope, he slammed his hoof down on the back of the blade, cutting the rope.

"Why do you want me to help you live like a pony?" I asked, confused more than I ever was, more than I ever was when taking a surprise test of Celestia's.

"I'm helping you, so you help me. Remember?" He said as he cut off the last of the ropes.

"Okay, but what does cutting the ropes do?" I asked.

"I'm helping you. I'm getting you out of here", he said, his face serious.

* * *

**And the chapter is finished! Hope you guys liked this chapter. I like how I wrote this whole thing before the time I needed to go to school... I should really study instead of doing this when I have free time xD.**

**Please leave a Review!**

**EDIT: 3/12/13**

**OKAY! For those who do not read these bolded massages in the first fanfic, I have mentioned this before. THERE WILL NOT BE ANY LEMONS IN THIS FANFIC! Yes, this is a romance and M Rated Fanfiction, but I won't put any lemons in this Fanfiction. Just putting it back out there, since someone gave me a review talking about this.**


	7. Chapter 7: Mindful Return

"What do you mean?" I asked, completely dumbfounded by his actions.

"Like I said, I'm getting you out of here", he said as he tossed the knife aside, clinking on the floor ans it slid across the surface of the stone floor.

"Won't you get in trouble?" I asked.

"Yes, but I don't care. I've had enough of this life, always hurting other creatures, just for the well being of my brethren, this is too much for me now. Now, can you walk?" He asked.

"I-I think so", I said as I wobbled off of the table, but collapsed once my hooves touched the floor..

"S-sorry, I haven't stood up in a long time, and my legs have been laid out like that for a long time...", I said as I tried to get up.

"Doesn't matter, you'll be seen either way. Get in the bag, it should be big enough. You shouldn't feel the dragging too much, the bag's pretty thick", he said as he dragged the bag over to me and pulled up the flap, revealing a bag with one strange looking crystal.

"What's that?" I asked as I tried to move into the bag.

"It's my food, don't bother asking. We're wasting time, come on already", he said, looking at the door to make sure that no other Changelings were looking.

Finally getting in the bag, he closed the flap and dragged me and the bag out of the room. I indeed couldn't feel the dragging, but I did feel the lumps of each individual stone as the bag went over the stone. I couldn't believe it! He really was a nice.. Changeling? I was going to get out of the hive, too. He did say that he wanted me to help him live like a pony exchange for helping me, this was the only part that troubled me, what if he tried to do all this to be a spy of some sorts? Guess I'll have to find out once we're out... if we get out.

~Command Post~

Rainbow Dash and I were getting ready to head back to Ponyville, to take Jeffry to see the memory book. Shining Armor would be staying at the ruined camp, and try to get everything into working order as soon as possible. Thankfully, and surprisingly, no one died, but many were greatly wounded, Another official from Canterlot was sent here in order to help, seeing as Shining Armor had some good help with him now, Rainbow Dash and I left the camp. Since Rainbow Dash suggested that we let Jeffry sleep some more, I was now carrying him on my back as we made our way back to Ponyville. I'm still curious as to how he did come back though, we all saw him die right in front of us. His body freaking broke apart into freaking bits and pieces and flew into the air, I didn't see any real way that he would have been able to survive.

'_Celestia, you there?_' I asked.

'_…. eh, Celestia?_' I asked, wondering if she was awake or not.

'_...Y-yes?_' Her voice finally came.

'_Er, what were you doing?_' I asked, wondering what took her so long to reply.

'_Just eating some cake_', I heard her say.

'_… Okay... I just wanted to say that I have good news and bad news_', I say.

'_Oh? Please, do tell_', she said.

'_Good news is that Jeffry's back... and I don't know how that's possible_', I said as I looked over my shoulder at the heavy son of a bitch that I was carrying... fat ass.

'_Oh, that is good news! What's the bad news?_' She asked.

'_Bad news is that this idiot doesn't have his memories. Rainbow Dash and I think that if he move the memories he made for the memory book that he gave to Twilight, we might be able to get him to remember everything, but I have no idea on how to get the memories out_', I said.

'_Oh, maybe I can be of some help. Shall I meet you at Twilight's library?_' I heard her ask as the light sound of some sort of glass object being placed on something.

'_Yeah, that'll be good. We're on our way to the library right now... Jeffry's out cold though_', I said.

'_Have you found Twilight yet? She would be thrilled to see him_', she said.

'_… *Sigh* No, we've still got to hit more camps to find her, or hope that we eventually get to their hive_', I said.

'_It would have been nice to bring the two together after such a long time..._', I heard her sigh from her side.

'_Yeah, but it would be better if Jeffry actually got his memories back before he met her again. He would have no freaking idea on who she is. That'll hit her like a sack of potatoes_', I laughed a little at the thought of Jeffry not knowing who Twilight was.

_'*Giggle* Yes, that would be best. I'm on my way there now, see you then_', I heard Celestia say before I felt her cut the mental link.

'…._Oh you did not just hang up on me... that's my job..._', I thought as I scowled.

I liked being the one who did all of the link cutting, and she just goes and takes me favorite part of these mental calls. Oh well, we were almost at Ponyville anyways, we were passing through the burnt and ruined portion of the forest. We still had to find the bastard who did this to Jeffry's armor. At the corner of my eye, I saw a set of yellow glowing eyes. I ignored this, seeing as it could have just been another strange creature of the forest. Not once suspecting that it could be the thief, seriously, since when did ponies have glowing eyes? Stepping out of the forest, we finally arrived at Ponyville. Walking down the hill, we entered the little town. As we walked down the streets of Ponyville, ponies all gasped and began to chatter at what they saw.

"_Is that Jeffry? I thought he died a few months ago_", was one of the many things that they said.

Clearly they were all surprised to see him, who wouldn't be after hearing that he had died long ago. Pushing aside the noise, Rainbow Dash and I made our way to Twilight's library to get to the memory book, hopefully it would get Jeffry's memories back. Reaching the front door of the library, I looked around and saw that her carriage was nowhere to be found. Guess she wasn't here yet, or she was still eating her cake. I felt Jeffry begin to stir awake.

"... Where am I?" He asked.

"Hey, Jeff. We're at Twilight's library, we're going to get your memories back", I said.

"Oh... okay", he said, his face expresionless.

Suddenly, a bright flash shined as Celestia appeared in front of us. The sudden flash and arrival of the tall horse made me jump, flinging Jeffry into the air. A loud thud came as Jeffry fell on his head, knocking him out again.

"Oh come of Celestia, he just woke up", I groaned as I squatted down and nudged Jeffry's shoulder.

"Sorry about that. I wanted to come here as quickly as possible... so he really is back", she smiled as she looked at the unconscious human.

"Yep, come on. Let's get inside", I said as I pushed the door open.

The girls walked in after I dragged Jeffry into the library, not even bothering to lift him up and carry him into the library. His feet clunked against the stairs as I dragged him up the stairs, to Twilight's bedroom. I think I remember that Twilight always left the book in her bedroom whenever she wasn't burying her face into the pages filled with Jeffry's memories of them being together. Tossing him onto the bed, I looked around the room for the memory book. A short green and purple dragon appeared at the bedroom door.

"Oh hey, it's you guys. Holy molly! Is that Jeffry?" Spike asked, pointing at us.

"Yeah, he just appeared a while ago. He lost his memories though", I said.

"Wow, that must suck", he said.

"Yeah, do you know where Twilight's memory book is?" I asked, looking around the room again.

"Oh, since Twilight left it on her bed, I placed it back in the desk drawer", he said, walking out of the room.

'_Oh sure, don't stick around to help some more if you could, thanks_', I thought as I walked over to the desk.

Pulling open several drawers, I finally found the book in the bottom drawer. Taking the book out of the drawer, I noticed that the girls had walked out of the room as well, was this going to be a thing now? Celestia, I thought you were going to be here to help us figure out how to do all of this memory moving stuff. Looking at the book, I looked at Jeffry.

'_Okay... how the fuck am I supposed to do this?_' I thought as I tapped my finger on the spine of the book.

*P.O.V. Change: Celestia*

I followed Rainbow Dash and Spike out of the room, Spike had offered me some cake! Of course, I blindly accepted it and walked out of the room when I was supposed to stay with John to help him with the spell. Suddenly, I heard a loud thumping sound coming from the bedroom.

"You two hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think it might be John", Spike said as he pulled out a plate of cake out of the fridge.

"Princess Celestia, let's go check on him", the Wonderbolt said.

Following her up the stairs, the sound of thumping grew louder and louder as we went up the stairs.

"Remember damn you! The power of memories shall shine upon thee!" We heard John shout from the room.

Rainbow Dash and I looked at each other and then at the bedroom door. Walking up to the door, we peered inside and saw John smacking Jeffry's face over and over with the memory book as he continued to shout what he said before.

"John, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Well, I'm doing what you were coming here to do. Getting Jeffry's memory back", he said as he opened Jeffry's mouth with his hand and shoved the corner of the book into his mouth.

"Wake up and smell the roses! You got shit to remember!" He shouted as he tried to get the book into his mouth.

"... John, stop", Rainbow Dash said, frowning at him.

"Well, what do you think we should do?" John said as he plopped the book on the nightstand.

*P.O.V. Change: John*

We began to discuss about what we could do. Obviously me shoving the book into his mouth wasn't working at all, wonder why I thought that would work. Rainbow Dash and Spike just stared at us while Princess Celestia and I went back and forth with ideas.

"Celestia, you know any spells on how to do this?" I asked as I picked up the book and looked it over.

"I don't know, but even if I did. It would be too risky. What if the memories get changed because of my magic?" She said as she placed her hoof on her chin and thought of what she could do instead.

"Ugh... what happened?" We heard Jeffry moan as he rolled over.

As he rolled over, he fell off the side of the bed and fell onto the floor, landing on his face.

"Ow...", he said.

"Hey Jeffry, you know what this is?" I asked, waving the memory book at him.

"Um... should I?" He asked, slowly pushing him up.

"Yes, come on, look at this", I said as I walked over to him as he sat on the bed next to Rainbow Dash.

Opening to a random page, not looking at the page, I placed the book on his lap. He looked down at the book and scanned the page, running his finger along one of the images. The freaking images were actually moving, very clever you crafty son of a bitch. His face froze as he looked at the memories, he seemed to have lost all sense of his surroundings as he lost himself in the book. He looked at he pictures some more before he finally looked up at me, and then turned his head to look at the other two.

"Is this... me?" He asked, looking back down at the book.

"Yeah, remember anything?" I asked, hoping that he would remember.

"I sort of remember small parts of these...", he said as he flipped through the pages, finally reaching the last one.

Touching his finger to the page, a single spark flew from his finger and onto the last memory image. Suddenly, the entire room became shrouded in darkness as Jeffry's body emitted a dark glow. A large whirlwind began to form as the energy began to center around Jeffry. Jeffry just sat there, holding on to the book as he stared at the last image. The last image was the very last moment the he and Twilight had before he died, it was the image of the moment that he faded right before our eyes. In this image, Twilight was crying.

"Twilight...", he said as a tear began to leak from his eye.

"Ha ha! The man remembers!" I cheered as I held onto the door frame, trying to keep myself from being pulled into the whirlwind.

Books were torn from their shelves and were now spinning madly inside of the powerful whirlwind that had suddenly kicked up from where he sat. Suddenly, the book floated into the air, all of the images flew out of the book and levitated in the air, displaying each and every single memory that Jeffry had copied into the book. One by one, each memory suddenly flew at Jeffry, each of them disappeared as they touched his body. Jeffry let out a loud cry, veins bulging from his head as he fell to his knees, holding the sides of his head as memories continued to fly into him. The library shook as he continued to yell in pain. Once the last memory flew into him, the one of his death, everything suddenly stopped. The girls and I fell to the floor as our bodies were no longer being held in the air from the whirlwinds powerful suction.

Quickly shaking off my daze, I rushed over to Jeffry and helped him up.

"Jeffry, you okay?" I bit my lip, did he finally remember?

"...John?" He said, the whites of his eyes were black, the center of his eye was now a burning red.

"Ha ha! You remember! And your eyes are fucked up", I laughed loudly as I patted his back hard, causing him to lean forward a little at the force of my pats.

"Jeffry! You're back!" Rainbow Dash said as she trotted over to us.

"Rainbow Dash? What's going on? Where are we? Wait.. we're in Twilight's room... okay, someone tell me what the hell's going on", he said as he squinted one eye, probably feeling some of the previous pain that he felt.

"Well, you died... you don't remember that?" I asked.

"Wait... I di-Wait, I do remember... how am I alive?" He asked.

"Was hoping you would know. Do you remember anything else?" I asked.

"Yeah... what were those weird looking black creatures?" He asked.

"Those pieces of shits took Twilight", I said, scowling as I mentioned it.

"Wait, Twilight's been taken?" He said, his face quickly turned from straight to hard and filled with rage.

"Yeah, come on", I said, smiling as I raised my hand to him.

"Let's go get her back", I said.

"Yeah... let's do this", he grinned back at me.

"So, where do we look?" He asked, getting up from the floor.

"Er, we're hitting Changeling camps in the Everfree Forest. You fought several before you regained your memories, remember that? I asked.

"Oh yeah, so somewhere in the Everfree Forest is where Twilight would be?" He asked as he turned to the window, the forest was in view.

"Yeah, we should head out and go for the next tar- *Crash*!" I stopped as I watched Jeffry bolt through the wall of Twilight's bedroom.

I just stood there, eye twitching as I looked at the massive hole in the wall.

"Yeah Jeffry, it's not like Twilight's going to be living here anyways", I said sarcastically as I face palmed.

"Come on, no time to waste. Don't want to end up losing Jeffry again", Rainbow Dash said before she disappeared through the giant hole in the wall, leaving behind a rainbow streak as she flew.

"I will be going back to the castle, good luck", Celestia said before she flew out of the room, slower than Rainbow Dash.

Okay... seriously you guys... there's a reason why doors were invented you know.

~Somewhere in the Everfree Forest~

I trotted through the bushes, leaves rustled as they brushed against my body and the bag I had on my back. The unicorn, Twilight, that I had broken out of the hive as on my back. I couldn't believe it, I was betraying the colony... I'm betraying my brethren... this wouldn't sit to well with them, especially my mother.

"Um, Chipper? Is it safe to speak?" Twilight whispered.

"... Doesn't seem to be anyone around, go ahead. Did you want to ask me something?" I whispered, crouching low on the ground, my belly just barely touching the grass.

"Aren't you tired from carrying me for so long?" She asked.

"Nah, I'll be okay. I'll let you out when we're far from the hive", I said as I crept underneath the plant life.

"... Why are you doing this... really?" She asked.

"What do you mean? I said I didn't want to live this life anymo-",

"No, tell me the truth. I don't think you're telling me the truth... are you planning anything from this?" She asked.

"Wait... you think I'm planning something? That actually hurts... but no, I'm doing this because I want a new life. This life of hurting others is disgusting, I want to change my life", I said as I pressed hard against a tree as I heard a buzz from the wings of one of my fellow Changelings.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" She asked.

"I don't have any way of proving it, but you'll just have to trust me", I said as I poked my head out of the top of the bush, seeing that it's clear.

"Okay... I do trust you, but I'm just worried about my friends... Thank you for doing this", she whispered as I felt her lower her head at the base of the bag.

"No problem, thanks for promising to help me live like a pony... you think I'll be able to live amongst you ponies?" I asked, suddenly realizing that I could just be leading myself into my own death.

"I don't know, but if you're just as kind to my friends as you are to me, I bet you'll fit in fine", she said, patting my back through the bag.

"Yeah... I hope so", I sighed.

I really wanted to live a new life of peace, hopefully to find something with more purpose than harming others in order to feed the demands of a single higher power, influencing those of smaller power. I lowered myself down again as I heard more buzzing, but the noise soon faded away as the group of Changelings flew over us and left.

* * *

**Sorry for the long wait :P... which was only about 1-2 days. But there was a test today and a 4 page outline that I needed to write up by hand. So I was held up the last two days to prepare for the test. Also, heads up! On the 23****rd**** of March, there will be no school for an entire week :D Yay! More free time to work on fanfiction! Unless the teachers decide to give us lots of homework... Booo.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	8. Chapter 8: Foreshadowing?

John, Rainbow Dash, and I were all at a sub-camp that had been established a ways north of the previous command post that used to be functioning. As of now, all orders were being relayed from this center. Plans for the next attack were already written up, but we lacked the forces to carry out these plans, seeing as many were injured in the last battle that the Changelings surprised us with. Out of all of the people and ponies here, Shining Armor and I were the ones who were the most focused at the task at hand. I wanted to get Twilight back from the Changelings, while as Shining Armor feared for the safety and well being of his sister. The plans were simple, the other Site squads had already finished off the last of the smaller Changeling camps and rescued nearly all of the reported captives.

The last plan was to coordinate a final strike on a surface Changeling camp, several reports have poured in reporting that scouts have seen Changelings come out of caves and out of the ground at several areas. We suspected that the hive must be around there, but that would come later. Our main objective was to hit the final and largest Changeling camp. All the other Site squads would assist in this final strike, Jeffry and I would be up front, being the big guns and all.

"Okay, Site squads from Sites 1, 3, 4, and have finished preparations to deploy their squads. Jeffry, John, are you two ready?" Shining Armor asked as he read off the report he received from an earlier scout.

"I'm ready", John said, flexing his fingers as his hands gave off a glow.

"Been ready", I said, forming two scythes and strapping them to my back, the handles pointing up to the sky.

"Alright, then you and John will move out now. The rest of the squads will move in when forces are down enough to prevent any serious casualties", Shining said.

"Got it, come on John", I said as I walked of the tent.

Once we were outside, we started to run towards where the suspected camp would be. The Changelings have found a way to hide their base, which seemed rather impossible to hide such a large area in less than a day. The plan was to first send in just John and myself into the camp, mainly to then out their forces. We were the only ones sent because we could take more punishment than the others could, plus, without any ally forces on the field with us, we had no worries of accidentally hitting any of them. With just us two out there, we could use more power than we usually do when fighting alongside allies. This was all so strange. Coming back from being dead, coming back only to fight weird creatures, they took Twilight, some day I'm having. As we ran through the forest, I saw a set of yellow beady eyes look at us as we ran straight past it, whatever it was, it seemed to be observing us. Ignoring this, we jogged to a stop and then moved behind the cover of the trees.

We were finally at the camp, I couldn't believe it. The reason the camp was hidden was because they had sliced off an incredible amount of tree branches from the nearby trees and had the branches suspended above their camp, they were using ropes to do this. Was kind of surprised to see that the branch covering wasn't caving in from the weight

"John, you think we can drop those trees on them?" I whispered, pulling out my scythes as I looked around to see if they were using rope or the likes to keep the trees up.

"Good idea... wanna set them on fire too?" John asked, lifting his hand up as it glowed.

"That should work too, but let's not. The others would be fighting in here, too", I said.

"Right", he whispered back as he lowered his hand.

"Hold on, I got an idea", I said as I backed up a little.

John watched as I pulled out my bow. I scanned the canopy of the branches that were placed there by the Changelings, spotting some incredibly dense looking knots at several points, I took aim. Quickly firing six arrows, five met their mark while as the sixth arrow was blocked by a passing Changeling, but that was enough. With five restraints gone, the entire support for the branches started to cave in on itself. Branches fell down on the camp, covering everything and all of the Changelings that were outside. I stopped John as he saw that he should charge in while they were confused.

"What are you doing?" He asked as the camp began to buzz with Changelings, all trying to get out from under the branches.

Aiming to the sky, I fired three arrows. As they soared into the sky, each one began to glow brighter and brighter before they each blew up. Shards of jagged ice began to rain from the heavens, impaling the branches, hitting several Changelings from beneath the branches. Leaping into the air, I soared above the Changeling camp. As I fell towards the ground, I grabbed hold of one end of my bow and brought it down from above my head as I fell to the ground. Striking the ground with my bow as I landed, I sent a shockwave, blowing away several make-shift structures and the branches. From the corner of my eye, I could see that John had decided to join in on the action. His body glowed a bright hue of light yellow as he charged straight through one of the Changelings make-shit buildings, the building exploded as he rammed through the other side.

"John, you take care of things here. I'll go look for the captives", I said, pulling back on my bow, ready to fire at any oncoming Changeling forces.

"Got'cha, send the signal now", he said before he brought out his dual swords and teleported away.

Aiming towards the sky again, the arrow glowed red as I fired it into the air. Reaching to the highest it could go, it exploded, giving off shining red particles. John and I needed to clear out as much as possible before the others came, to minimize any chance of self inflicted attacks. Disarming my bow, I reached back and grabbed hold of my scythes and whipped myself around as a Changeling leaped out from some rumble. Swinging my scythes, I severed the legs of a charging Changeling. I quickly leaped backwards as a Changeling fell from the sky, causing an explosion as it touched down. Surprisingly, the creature didn't even seem to be hurt from its own fall. Hooking both scythes around its neck, I pulled, severing its head.

Running forward, I cut away at every Changeling that was in my way. I looked over the sea of branches and Changeling forces as I tried to find anything that looked like they would hold captives. Over on the other side, I could see Changelings being flung into the air as John batted them into the air with his mace. Spotting several squares moving in the shadows, leaped over the sea of branches and Changelings towards the odd objects. Landing on one of them, I heard the sound of metal splitting as the force of my landing caused whatever to split at the sides. It was a cage, a cage with three captives inside.

"Bingo", I grinned as I gripped the edge of the top of the cage.

Changelings hissed as they turned and looked at me. Before they could attack, I tore the top part of the cage off, snapping the metal bars. Flipping off of the cage with the cage top in my hands, I swung it downwards. The snapped off metal bars of the cage impaled the Changelings and dug into the ground. Swinging my scythe, I parred away a Changeling. This one was different, it wore a suit of black leather like armor, but it was able to withstand my strikes. Not letting the Changeling get a single chance, I swung repeatedly without giving one seconds rest. I pushed the Changeling back with my strikes, causing it to eventually lay its back against the front of the cage. Morphing one scythe into a thin sword, I stabbed it through the chest plate and through its back. Quickly pulling the sword out, I swung it again, slicing the head of the Changeling clean off.

As the Changeling fell, I rushed forward and looked into the cage. My hopes dropped as I looked inside the cage, Twilight wasn't in the cage. Looking over at the other cages that the now dead Changelings were pulling, I saw that it had two captives, but none were the purple unicorn that I loved. Cursing, I slammed my fist up into the base of the first cage, causing the oddly brittle metal to crack and crumble. With the base gone, the metal bars fell off of the cage, leaving an opening for the captives to escape from.

"Okay, I want all of you to stay put. There will be some Royal Guards arriving here shortly", I ordered as I went over to the other cage and sliced at the bars.

"Jeffry! Is that you!?" I heard a voice call out to me.

"Hey, Spitfire", I said as I slung my scythes across my back as I formed my bow.

"How are you here? I thought you were dead", the Wonderbolt said as she landed by my side.

"I don't know either, but I came back somehow", I said as I fired an arrow at a Changeling that was attempting to attack from the bushes.

"Okay, the squad I was assigned to lead will be arriving shortly. Some of the other squads have also arrived, but nearly ¾ of our forces have been delayed by traps and Changeling forces", she said as she looked over her shoulder, towards the waging battlefield.

"Got it, do me a favor. I need somepony to keep an eye on the captives, I'm going to go back to the battlefield now", I said.

"You go it... hey Jeffry, good to have you back", she said.

"Good to be back", I smiled back at her as I teleported away.

I teleported on top of a tree. Scanning over the battlefield, I finally spotted John. Around him, Changelings were flying into the air as he brought his fists onto the ground, crumbling the floor beneath him, causing the entire ground around him to fall into the earth. The ground continued to crack around the rim of the hole, but slowly stopped growing as the cave turned into a tunnel at certain points. John just happened to be above a cave... no, it was the Changeling hive! He had broken into the hive on accident, this was good. Twilight was nowhere above ground, so she must have been taken into the hive! I rushed towards the hole, leaping over a Changeling and continued to run towards the hole as I touched down.

"Hey John! You okay down there?" I asked, leaning over the edge.

"Yup, I think I found the Changelings hive as well", he said as he looked around.

The bodies of Changelings and chunks of stone and dirt was littered everywhere. John was looking through the tunnels that were completely lit up, seeing as the roof of the tunnels were now missing. I leaped down into the giant cave.

"John, you think Twilight's in here?" I asked, my heart began to beat louder, I was going to see Twilight again, how would she react?

"She better be, or else I'm going to flip some shit!" John said.

Just as he finished saying that, Changelings began to storm down the tunnels. John lifted his palm up, a small light yellow ball appeared in the palm of his hand. He then pointed his hand at the tunnel and fired it, but it didn't just fire the ball. The ball glowed and shot out as a beam, engulfing ever single Changeling in its path.

"Wow, John. When the hell did you learn to do that?" I asked, staring at the Changelings who were now piles of dust.

"I learned it all from you, when you were throwing those freaking mini nukes everywhere", he said.

"Oh yeah... wow", I said as I scratched the top of my head.

"Come on, the others can handle the forces up top. We'll go for the heart of these suckers", he said as he ran towards the tunnel that was littered with scorched bodies of Changelings, all crumbling.

Running down the tunnel, we heard loud buzzing and shouting. Screams were very faint over the roaring sounds of the battle above us and the galloping of the swarms of Changelings within the hive. John tackled an entire group of Changelings back into the tunnel as the two collided. Leaping over him, I showered them with arrows, downing them all. John ran over the bodies as he followed behind me down the hall. We entered a large corridor, just as a swarm of Changelings began to pour into the room. Pushing John back, I pulled off my scythes and swung hard towards the ceiling of the corridor, black crescent shaped waves came out as I did so. As they struck the ceiling, the cave began to cave in on itself. Before the room became completely caved in, we ran alongside the wall and leaped into another tunnel, just as a giant piece of the ceiling crashed down and blocked us in. We could hear the shrieks and screeching of Changelings as they were crushed by the stones that were falling.

"Jeez, this is insane", John huffed as he leaned against the wall.

"Pull yourself together", I said as I exhaled sharply.

John and I were pretty tired now and I was close to being out of breathe already. He seemed to be doing better than I am, seeing as his body has been getting more work and more used to doing all of this crazy stuff for the past few months. Finally catching out breathes a little, we walked down the tunnel, being wary of any possible Changelings who might be lurking inside of the tunnel. Screams came from down the hall, it sounded like Twilight!

"Twilight!" I said, scowling as I charge down the hall.

"Jeffry! Are you insane?" John hissed at me as he ran after me.

Stopping, I heard the scream again, coming from behind the wall. I saw that were was a giant round stone blocking the door, maybe used as a door for them. My fist began to glow with black lines. Soon, both of my arms began to morph, both growing thicker as black scales began to form on my arms as well.

"Dude, why are your arms becoming like they did when I fought Discord?" John said as he came to stop.

Ignoring his question, I punched through the stone door, sending chunks of stone into the room. Once the dust had been cleared, I saw that a Changeling laid on the ground, lifeless. Shards of stone were embedded inside of its body. Inside the room, there was also a pony in it, hanging by chains. I punched the doorway, ripping out a chunk of stone as I did so. It wasn't Twilight, it was a different mare, her coat was a light pink and she had a silver mane that ended at a point. John walked in and shattered the cuffs and caught the mare as she fell from the wall.

"Jeff, what do we do with her? Leave her here and come back when we check out the rest of the hive?" John asked as he set the barely breathing mare on the floor.

I shouted as I ran towards the wall and smashed through the wall. There were others rooms next to the others! Seeing as there were more rooms, I smashed through one room after another, each containing a single captive, but none with Twilight in it.

"No! No! No! No! Where is she?" I shouted as I smashed through another wall, this time it didn't lead to another room with a captive in it, but a far larger room.

It was dimly lit, but I could see everything clearly. It was a slight oval shape, some green looking goo was everywhere, somethings like cocoons were everywhere, on the walls, ceiling, everywhere. At the end of the room, I could see some sort of stairs leading up towards a Changeling? This Changeling was far different from any Changeling I've seen or fought. It was taller for one, had a green mane that looked like long fake grass. It's tail was the same, too. Its eyes were closed too.

"I see you've managed to find and infiltrate my hive", the Changeling said, most likely a female from its voice.

"Yeah, I'm here for what was taken from me", I said as I clenched my fists, black lines started to draw themselves up my neck.

"And what would that be?" She said, smiling, her eyes were still closed.

"That would be my marefriend", I said, turning to my side as I let my magic surge through me.

"Well... I might have her here in the hive, or not", she cackled as she opened her eyes.

"Tell me your name, strange creature", she said as she stood up and walked down the steps.

"My name is Jeffry, now give her back", I glared at her.

"I am Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings. I won't give up your little marefriend so easily. I'm not even sure if she is here or not, is there really any point in fighting?" She stated as she walked towards me.

"If she's not here, I'll still kill all of you and save all of those whom you have kidnapped!" I hissed, eying her as she walked around me.

"Go ahead and take them all back, my goal has already been reached. I have enough power from those ponies so that I can create a new army, far greater than the one you fought", she cackled as she walked past me.

"Goal? What kind of goal?" I said, turning around to keep my eyes on her.

"Oh, just a little conquering", she said as the cocoons began to shake and then tear as Changelings came out of them.

Soon, the room began to be filled with Changelings. Chrysalis walked through the crowd of Changelings.

"I'll see you soon", she said before she burst into green flames as she walked into a doorway and around the corner.

I was barely able to see a flash of pink before she disappeared completely behind the corner. John came running out of the hole I made in the wall and skipped to a stop.

"Okay... what the hell did I just miss?" John said as he looked at the army of Changelings in this room.

"Something... come on, let's take care of these guys and then get the others out of here", I said, pounding my black, scaly fist into my palm.

"I like that plan of yours", he chuckled deeply as he unsheathed his swords.

His swords began to morph and melt onto his hands, forming two gleaming white and gold gloves of some sort, spikes were sticking out from the knuckle areas.

'_Conquering? What did that bitch mean from that?_' I thought as I watched John charge into the crowd, I followed behind him as I leaped into the air and into the crowd of Changelings.

~Let's See How Our Hero is Favoring~

"Twilight, can you pass me that crystal? I'm getting kind of hungry", I said, panting as my legs began to burn.

"Sure... here", she said as the single crystal that I had packed into the bag came out, a light purple glow was surrounding it.

"Thanks", I said as I lowered myself down, taking the crystal in my mouth.

Twilight poked her head out of the bag and watched as I consumed the energy from the crystal. I held up the crystal in the air with my magic, absorbing some of the energy from the crystal, I didn't want to consume all of it and leave myself without food for later on.

"I didn't know you could use magic", Twilight said.

"Well, these aren't just for show you know", I said as I pointed at the spike like horn that I and all the other Changelings had as well.

"I see", she said as she pulled her head back into the bag.

Placing the somewhat energy filled crystal into the bag, I grunted as I stood up.

"Let's see if we can get to that town of yours before I die from fatigue", I chuckled lightly as I walked forward.

* * *

**Everyone, I know I keep writing Jeffry and the others as if they have no idea how he came back, but another chapter will be written soon after all of these events are done, it will explain how he's back :P Anyways~ Hope you all liked this chapter, sorry for taking so long. Didn't have much drive for this and I stopped near the 1,000 word mark because I got bored and went to sleep :P**

**Please leave a Review!**


	9. Chapter 9: Reuniting

I huffed as I sat down on the corpse of the many Changelings inside of the room. John and I had finished off the rest of the Changelings that had appeared from the cocoons, and secured the captives. Royal Guards arrived shortly after we removed the restraints of the captives, they removed them from the hive, John ordered for them to be moved to the hospital in Ponyville. A Guard had stayed behind to give us a report, saying that all of the Changelings suddenly stopped mid-fight and looked up into the sky. Several Guards looked up as well, but saw nothing. The Changelings must have been the only ones who sensed something, and all ran into the forest, leaving the battlefield and stating the Royal Guards victory. John was taking off pieces of his armor, guess he finally made it so that his armor was removable. I wasn't wearing any armor.

Snapping my fingers, my body glowed, but nothing of what I was intending on doing had shown itself. I snapped my fingers again, once more no results came forth from my several attempts at trying to form my armor. John stopped with the removal of his armor and turned towards me, obviously curious as to what I was trying to do.

"Jeff, you okay?" He said as he clapped his hands together, his armor teleported away.

"Yes and a bit of no", I said as I sighed, letting my arms fall limp on my sides.

"Okay... you made no sense", John said as he walked around some of the dead Changelings.

"Well, I'm not hurt, but I'm worried about Twilight. We haven't been able to find her, she wasn't in the hive or in any of the camps that were hit before and after I came back from my suspected 'death'", I said, emphasizing the word as I did the quote on quote hand gesture.

"Jeff, don't worry. I'm sure she's fine. The Changelings are finished off in here, and the rest have fled. We've won. All that's left to do is to make sure the captives recover and have them reunited with their families and friends", he said as he nudged a Changelings head with his foot.

"Wow... never thought you could speak like that, let alone use vocabulary that you never use", I smiled a little.

"Ha ha, very funny. It's been five months since I last saw you... since any of our friends have seen you. We've changed in ways that our lives have led to new paths that have been laid out for us", he said as he walked over to me, and patted me on the shoulder as he walked past me.

"Dude, did you become a philosopher when I was 'dead'?" I laughed a little.

"Ah screw you", he said as he walked into the tunnel leading to the hole he had made on the battlefield.

"That was a compliment you dunce", I shook my head as I got up and folloed him.

Maybe he didn't become as smart as I thought he had. Following him into the dimly lit tunnel, we walked towards the exit John had made to the hive. I could see the sunlight as we came closer to the section of the hive that was exposed to the surface. John leaped out of the hole and landed on the rim of the hole, I snapped my fingers and teleported next to him. The ground was littered with scorch marks from all of the Changelings that were dropping themselves onto the battlefield like missiles. Bodies from the forces from either sides of this battle were littered everywhere. From the looks of it, there were more dead Changelings than there were Guards, thankfully we didn't lose too many. Still... we lost many ponies from our side. As John and I walked across the battlefield to get back to the command post, we past both Changelings and Guards. This made me think, what if Twilight was already dead? My mind spun as I thought of that horrid possibility, the thought of losing Twilight.

I shook the hindering thoughts aside and continued along with John towards the command post. The battle has been won, Ponyville, Canterlot, all of Equestria is safe from these Changelings, but what did she mean by conquer? Does she... Chrysalis, plan to conquer Equestria? Or could she possibility be going for another kingdom? That doesn't matter to me at the moment, I need to know what's going to happen next, I need to get back to the command post to get more information on further plans, since I have close to no clue as to what has been going on for the past few months of my death. Reaching the command post, John and I headed straight for the main tent where we first went in to establish our plans. Pushing the folds of the tent aside, we walked inside the tent and saw that Princess Luna, Shining Armor, and Rainbow Dash were here as well.

"So it's true., Thou Plushy Human has returned", Luna said with a smile.

"Yeah, I'm back... Princess Pokey", I said, no smile on my face.

"Also, now's not the time for messing around. What's next on the agenda?" I asked, placing my hands down on the edge of the table we all stood around.

"Well, captives have been rescued and sent to Ponyville Hospital to be nursed. All kidnapped citizens have been accounted for... all but my sister", Shining Armor said, sighing as he finished.

"Okay, with everything else done. What do we do? The Changelings have been defeated and the scouts have reported seeing no Changelings inside of the hive that John and Jeffry have broken into. Even the cocoons were empty", Rainbow Dash said as she read over a scroll.

"The finding of Twilight will be our next goal, I shall send the Guards back to Canterlot, for it is unnecessary for an entire army to search for a single unicorn", Princess Luna said.

"John and myself are more than enough, we'll find Twilight by ourselves", I said, forming my sword.

"No, the more we send out can insure a far quicker sweep of the forest", Rainbow Dash said.

Suddenly, we erupted into a debate on what we should do, send out myself and John, or send in all of the personal in the tent. Little did we know, someone was approaching the tent from the shadows.

~Outside the Tent~

I sluggishly walked through the forest. Suddenly, I tripped forward a little as there was a sudden drop in elevation of the forest floor. I had been walking with my head hung low, I've been walking with Twilight on my back for quite some time and I didn't know how much longer I could last at this pace. The sound of shouting could be heard, but I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Seeing as there was a clearing up from with no grass and was at a lower level, I walked towards it to see what it could be. Reaching the edge of the clearing, I saw that there was rumble and wreckage of some objects that I have never seen before, probably made by ponies. There was also a fairly large dark green structure, it looked fragile and familiar. I think one of the scouts reports these things several times when they came back from their recon missions.

The shouting seemed to be coming from the strange thing... a tent, that's it, I finally remembered what it was.

"Enough! The longer we wait, the closer Twilight could be to death", a voice shouted from the tent.

'_Twilight? Did the things inside know of Twilight?_' I thought as I looked over my shoulder, at the leather bag containing the unicorn.

"Twilight, someone in that tent called out your name", I said.

"Really, who?" She asked.

"I don't kno-",

*P.O.V. Change: John*

We all froze as we heard several voices coming from outside the tent while we were shouting. No one else was supposed to be here, all Guards were ordered to leave before we started to shout at one another for what course of action we should take. It could be a Changeling! Unsheathing my swords, I sliced away the weak fabric and burst through the opening. It was indeed a Changeling, it reeled back, but quickly reached back to keep a large brown bag from falling off of its back. It could be some sort of weapon that these things either made or stole from the ponies. Rushing forward, I swung my sword, but stopped as it spoke.

"W-wait!" It said, scrambling back.

"You're a Changeling, why shouldn't I kill you right here?" I hissed, walking forward.

"You better give us a good answer, or you'll be carrying that bag to your grave", I heard Jeffry said as he pulled back on his bow that he had formed in just a split second.

"Wait... that sounds like Jeffry", a voice said, the voice was coming from the bag.

"..Twilight?" Jeffry whispered, lowering his bow slightly.

"Jeffry?" The voice said again, this time it was clear that it was Twilight.

The bag stirred as a head popped out of the lid of the bag, purple mane flowing from the ponies head, purple coat, purple horn, it was her all right. Jeffry dropped his bow and dropped to his knees, tears began to fall from his eyes. A wide smile formed on Twilight's face as she began to cry. Stumbling out of the bag, she charged at Jeffry, tackling him to the floor. The others watched from the tent as we all looked down at the two of them, hugging and crying together. I swung my sword up at the Changelings neck, but stopped as the blade touched the Changelings chin. Twilight suddenly looked up and got off of Jeffry and galloped in front of the creature, lightly pressing her hoof on the side of my blade, pushing it to the side.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" I asked, lowering my sword.

"Don't hurt him", she said.

"Him?" Jeffry and I said in unison.

"Yes, he's a him", she said, smiling as she looked at the Changeling, who's face bore the expression of someone who was calm... even in such a situation.

He was scared when I jumped through the wall of the tent, who wouldn't?

"Okay, its a guy, but why are you protecting him?" I asked.

"He saved me, he got me out of the hive", she said, placing her hoof on his shoulder.

"Really?" Jeffry asked, getting to his feat.

"Yes, I did get her out of the hive", he said.

"Oi, not talking to you", Jeffry snapped his fingers, sparks flew from his fingers and struck the Changeling, causing him to fly backwards.

"Jeffry! Please, stop this! He's good", she said.

"How is he good? All he did was save you, he could be plotting something by saving you. For all we know, this could be part of Chrysalis's plan to conquer whatever place she was planning on taking over", Jeffry said.

"If he didn't save me, I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't even be able to see me again", Twilight said, glaring coldly at Jeffry.

Jeffry backed away, I flinched a little at this. Of all the people... or ponies, in the world, Jeffry was the last person I would think of that Twilight would get angry at. Jeffry groaned, and then let out a sigh as he snapped his finger again. The Changeling floated into the air as Jeffry lifted him up and brought him back towards us with his magic. Jeffry walked towards the tent, the Changeling still in his magical hold.

"Luna, you think you can look into his mind? I know your sister can", he said, releasing the Changeling from his magic.

Catching him by the leather strap from the bag, he moved him forward so that the Changeling was in front of him. Luna nodded, her horn glowed and he eyes soon followed suit. After a few seconds, her horn and eyes returned to their normal state, he face filled with confusion.

"Well?" Jeffry asked, shaking the Changeling a little.

"...Twilight speaks the truth... we do not see any plans of which thou has suspected", Luna said.

Silence fell over us, I looked at the Changeling and then at Jeffry. Shrugging, I walked forward and took hold of the Changelings bag strap and pulled him out of Jeffry's hold and placed him down on the dirt.

"Okay, I guess you're... good. BUT! If we find out that you plan something later on, I'll let Jeffry cut off your balls, you hear me?" I said, tapping his scarred cheek with my sword.

"I hear you. Don't worry", he said as he pushed my blade away, this ticked me off.

"I don't plan on anything. I just want to live a new life", he said as he stood up and brushed himself off.

*P.O.V. Change: Jeffry*

I watched as the Changeling walked over to Princess Luna, who had motioned for him to come towards her. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash continued to watch him as he made his way towards them, both of them still didn't fully trust him, even with the Princess' saying of his non-existing goals. I turned to Twilight and smiled. I walked forward and brought her into a tight embrace, tears streamed down my cheeks as I forgot all about the tension her arrival with the Changeling had caused. I felt her wrap her leg wrap around my neck as she hugged me back. We rocked back and forth as he kept our tight embrace, not wanting to stop this reuniting.

"Twilight... I was so worried when I heard from John and the others that he had been taken", I said as I pulled away from her, smiling as tears streamed down my cheeks.

"You were?" She asked.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't stop for the world until I got you back", I said, resting my hand on the side of her cheek.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she pressed the side of her face closer to my hand, placing her hoof on my wrist. Using my thumb, I wiped away the tears and brought her back into a hug.

"Sorry for ruining this, but we're going to Canterlot. Princess Celestia just contacted Luna and said that she would like to speak with the Changeling personally, and hear how you got back from your so called death", John said.

"*Sigh* Guess we can make up for lost time some other time...", Twilight sighed sadly as she moved away from me.

"Yeah, once we're done in Canterlot, I'm going to make sure that we don't lose one another again", I said, stroking her cheek.

I stood up, offering my hand to her. Twilight, being more than happy to accept the aid, she placed her hoof in my hand as I helped her up. We walked over to the others, my arm around her neck. The Changeling was under the watching eye of Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash, as well as Luna. Once we were all together, John clapped his hands together and we were then teleported away from the camp. We all reappeared on the balcony of Princess Celestia's bedroom. Princess Celestia was already waiting by the open doors of her balcony, awaiting our arrival.

"You must be the Changeling my sister told me about", Princess Celestia said, her face was calm, but not that of happy or sad.

"Yes, your highness", he said with a slight bow.

"Come in, I have questions that I wish to ask you", she said as she turned around in the doorway and walked inside.

"Um... what do we do about her?" We heard Rainbow Dash asked.

The others all gasped, all but Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and myself.

"Hey there, Zecora. How did you get here?" I asked, removing my arm from Twilight and walked over to the mare with the black and white mohawk..

"Wait, you know Zecora?" Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah, I stayed at her hut when I first came back", I said as I stopped in front of the mare.

"Okay... this might be rude of me, but I know you ponies are colorful and what not, but I know she ain't a pony", John said.

"Yeah, about that. It's sort of hard to understand this at first... or not", I said, shrugging as I turned to them and moved to her side.

"Greetings, for your friend speaks of your mind being free, I shall tell my tale for you, ever so slowly", Zecora said.

"Oh cool, nice accent", John said.

"Why thank you, for the number of ponies who see my speech to be interesting, is quite few", she said, going about with her rhyming.

"...What's with the rhyming?" He asked.

Before Zecora could say anymore, I raised my hand up between them and silenced any possible questions that were to arise.

"To put it short, when I first 'came back' from my death", I said, doing the quote on quote hand gesture.

"Zecora took me in for a while. She found me in the forest when I came back and allowed me to stay with her. She did say she saw how I returned, but didn't get to tell me", I said.

"My help for you, I gave to you indeed, but I do not need such compliment for such a deed", she said, smiling to us.

"Come on, lets go inside. Princess Celestia, you said you wanted to speak to the Changeling and hear how I got back?" I asked the Princess.

"Yes, but I would first like to speak with the Changeling first... do you have a name?" She said as she turned away from me and looked at the Changeling.

"Yes, my name is Chipper", he said.

"Okay, Chipper. I would first like to ask you some questions, and then hear how you came back, Jeffry", Princess Celestia said.

I nodded. We all walked into the room, Zecora by my side and Twilight on my other side. The question I had was how in the world did she get here? She wasn't a unicorn, so teleporting was out of the list of possibilities, she couldn't fly either. Maybe she was nearby when John teleported us onto the balcony? That question can be answered later, if I remember to ask her that is. We all moved to a table with cushions on the floor. Most likely it was laid out to accommodate the way ponies sat, seeing as when they sat down, their rear ends would be leveled with their legs. This didn't bother John or myself, seeing as we could just sit cross legged, which we of course did. The Changeling was also given a cushion to sit upon.

"I will be brief as possible. I will only be asking a few questions", Princess Celestia said, the Changeling known as Chipper, nodded.

"Why did you help Twilight out of the hive? Doing so would most likely mean you betrayed your Queen, your own kind", Princess Celestia said.

"Well, I promised to get her out if she promised to help me adapt to living like a pony", he said, calm as ever.

"... Why do you wish to live like a pony?" She asked.

"The life of a killer, a kidnapper, a monster... I don't like that life. I want to live a more peaceful life, a life where I wouldn't have to hurt or kill anyone", he said, his face serious.

"... well, that throws the last of my questions right out the door, now doesn't it? …. Chipper, I would like to look into your mind... this might... hurt a little", Celestia said as she stood up.

"Go ahead, I won't hide anything", he said.

Celestia nodded as we all watched as she walked forward and stopped in front of him. Her horn and eyes glowed a pure white. We watched on as Chippers head glowed slightly, but he showed no signs of pain as Celestia looked through his mind. Sweat began to bead down his head and down onto his coal black skin. Finally, Celestia stopped her spell and exhaled as she stepped back, smiling.

"It would seem that our friend here isn't lying", she said, still smiling as she went back to her seat.

"You agreed to this?" I asked Twilight as I looked over to my right, where she sat, Zecora was to my left.

"Well of course. I was going to get out of there, didn't seem like a bad offer to me", she said.

"Well, guess you're right. Helping someone with their life is a good thing to do... think we should introduce them to the girls? You know, so they won't flip out when they see him?" I asked, thinking of how the towns ponies of Ponyville would react to him.

"Twilight, thou will show him around Ponyville, yes?" Luna asked.

"Yes, I will be introducing him to the girls as well... hopefully none of them will react mmore than just being surprised", Twilight laughed slightly as she rubbed her neck with her hoof.

"What being said. Jeffry, would you and Zecora be so kind as to tell us all on how you returned to us?" Princess Celestia asked.

Everyone around the table, other than Zecora, Chipper, and myself leaned forward to hear how I came to be alive. Looking over at Zecora, she nodded.

"Okay, might be a long story... or short... depends on how I word it... Do you all want the shorter or longer version of the story?" I asked.

"It is entirely up to you", Shining Armor said.

"Okay, Zecora. Ready?" I asked, looking over at the black and white mare.

"A story we shall tell of truth and mystery, for it is not of ancient history", Zecora said.

* * *

**And~ end! Finally finished this chapter :D The next chapter might be longer for me to write, seeing as I have to write Zecora'ss speech... Rhymes rhymes... this isn't going to be easy e_e. So please bare with me when the rhymes make no sense at times xP Her speech won't be used during the story, only from chatting out of the story telling.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	10. Chapter 10: So Many Slanted Letters!

"Zecora, let's start a little before you found me in the forest", I said to the mare, who in turn nodded at my suggestion.

~Story! Yay, Lot of Slated Words!~

*P.O.V. Of story, Jeffry's*

_I groaned as I clenched my fist. The smell of smoke from burning grass and trees filled my nose. Was something burning? Sliding my arms across the grass, I covered my nose to block out the smell of the smoke as my nose started to hurt from the strong stench of burnt plant life. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw that my hands and arms were covered in some sort of black substance. I then noticed that the grassy floor that I as lying on was also the same color, so was everything in my surroundings. Looking down at myself, I saw that my clothes were covered in ash, from lying down on the burnt, ashy grass. Where was I?... Who was I? I Looked around and noticed that I was in some sort of forest, but why was I here? I walked forward, but stopped as my foot kicked something, causing whatever I had kicked to rattle. Looking down, I stumbled and fell backwards at what I saw._

_Bones and pieces of black plating of some sort was in a pile, more piles of the likes were scattered in some sort of pattern that resembled nothing of meaning. I began to panic, was I on some sort of battlefield? Who was attacking? The thoughts of someone attacking me filled my mind with fear as I looked around to see if anything or anyone was coming towards me. As I looked around, I saw that two trees had their trunks snapped off. Leaning slightly to the side, I saw someone. It was a person for sure, but it was wearing a very beat up suit of white armor that had black smudges from the ashes on the grass. The armor he wore was also covered in some sort of green liquid. Something gleamed at his waist... it was a sword! The blade was stained with the same green liquid, he must have killed something or someone! I slowly backed away, not knowing if the person was awake or dead. Not wanting to figure out if he was one of the two possible states, I ran away from the burnt clearing._

_Panting as I ran into the forest, I left behind the clearing filled with piles of bones, that person, and that strange white stuff that was at the center of the clearing, close to where I was lying down on. I ran as fast as I could, my body felt as if something had beaten me up over and over. My body was also covered in numerous bruises and cuts, the cuts seemed to be fully healed, but were nothing more than scars._

_'How did I get these injuries? Who was that guy, and why was he wearing that stuff on him? His sword was covered in green stuff... did he kill something?' I thought as I ran through the forest._

_I suddenly tripped on a tree root, and stumbled over. My body came to a stop as it stopped sliding over the smooth forest grass. I groaned as I pushed myself with one arm, placing my other arm on my chest. It felt as if there was a fire burning within me. My ears twitched as I heard growling, was I hungry? _

_'Oh shit!' I thought as I watched as a pack of wolves... made of wood, stalk up to me._

_They snarled at me as they glared at me with those beady yellow-green eyes of theirs. My hand brushed on something, not caring what it was, I took hold of it in my hand and reeled my arm back, it felt heavy. Whatever I had grabbed, it felt like a rock._

"_Back off! Or I'll kill you!" I shouted, panting as sweat beaded down the sides of my face._

_The wolves seemed to smile at my taunt, almost as if they were mocking me. One of them leaped forward, but was whacked in the head by some sort of staff with ornaments tied to the bottom of the grayish gem that was on top of the staff._

"_Begone, foul beast. For he is no feast", a voice said._

_A figure stepped forward, a dark brown cloak shrouded its body, a dark brown hood covered its head. The figure also had a staff in one of its... what was that? I watched as the figure swung the staff back and forth, shooing away the wolves that were made of wood. The wolves snarled at the figure, but slowly backed into the bushes, disappearing in the cover of the bushes. I let out a sigh of relief as my attackers disappeared, but clenched my chest. I clawed at my shirt as I felt my chest throb, it felt as if a glowing red needle had been stuck into my heart. The strange figure turned around and looked down at me. Not knowing if the strange figure was trying to save or kill me, I breathed heavily as I used my feet to push myself away from the figure._

"_Do not be afraid, for their territory, you did invade", the figure said, voice had a strong accent on it, and it sounded feminine._

"_I-if this is their-Urgh-territory, why shouldn't I be afraid? They'll come back to kill me", I panted as I shut one eye as the pain seared through my body._

"_For what reasons, a strange creature of unknown to them, why you came here. For you do not look to be from the forest, or a place that's near", she said._

_I pushed myself back as she stepped forward. I turned my head to look behind me as my back touched a tree trunk. Turning back to look at her, I winced as she placed her... hoof? On my chest, electrifying pain flowed through my body as she pressed a little, but soon removed her hoof from my chest and reached into a bag of some sorts that was strapped to her side, beneath her cloak. Reaching into the bag, I was able to see her body, she had four legs! Her skin... no, fur, was black and white, a set of gold rings were stacked on top of each other. Two sets of these gold rings were both around one of her four legs, and around her neck._

"_What the hell are you?" I panted as I struggled to keep my eyes open, my vision was beginning to blur._

"_My kind is that of the zebra race. Why is ash of black, smeared on your face?" She asked as she pulled out a small bag of some sorts._

_Before I could respond, or even try, I blacked out._

_~Time Skip: One Hour~_

_I slowly opened my eyes, dry air filled my nose as I breathed in, but also a slightly pleasant aroma. Groaning as I sat up, a blanket slide forward as it moved off me as I did so. Looking around, I saw that I was in some sort of house... or more of a hut. The room was decorated with masks, walls were lined with shelves that held strange objects, beads of various colors were strung on string, all hanging from the shelves. The sound of liquid bubbling could be heard from somewhere in the room. Groaning some more, I dropped one leg over the side of the bed and then the other. I noticed that I was no longer wearing my shoes... or any of my clothes, but I was now wearing some sort of robe. _

"_I see you're awake, for you would not stir from storms or quake", the same accent filled voice came from a doorway._

_Walking into the room, I saw that the figure was a horse... wait, she said that she was a zebra. What the hell was going on? How is a zebra talking?_

"_Um, where am I? Who are you?" I asked, sitting down on the bed side, not feeling afraid as I saw that this talking zebra didn't really seem to want to hurt me._

"_This place, I call my home. For my name, is Zecora of the zebra race. For what reason, in the forest, do you roam?" She asked, walking towards a giant metal pot, how the hell did I not notice that?_

"_Uh... I don't know why I was in the forest... I don't even know who I am...", I said as I scratched my head._

_She didn't seem to be alerted from what I said, but went about with the cauldron. Using her mouth, she held onto a ladle and scooped up some of the bubbling liquid that was cooking away in the pot. Pouring two scoops of the strange green liquid, she placed the ladle's hooked end on a hanger by the wall. Tipping her head down, she bumped the cup she had poured the liquid, into the air and caught it with her nose and balanced it there as she walked towards me. Seeing that she was offering the cup to me, I reached for the cup and took it in my hold. Looking at the cup, and then back at her, she smiled._

_'Hope this stuff isn't toxic_', I thought as I returned her smile, but awkwardly.

_Taking a sip of the strange liquid, I suddenly lightened up as the taste of the drink touched my tongue, it was delicious. A little bitter, but it had a fruity aftertaste. I downed the rest of the drink in one swift movement, tipping the cup all the way up to get every last drop of the tasty drink. Lowering the cup, I let out a happy sigh as the pain in my body slowly began to be replaced by a warm feeling. It felt as if I was lying in a warm bath of sand that had been warmed by the sun._

"_That was delicious", I said with a smile as I placed the cup on a small wooden stool._

"_Your compliment, I am grateful. It will prove your body quite useful", she smiled as she scooped up the cup with her hoof and walked over towards the cauldron._

_I watched as she placed the cup on a shelf, and then walked back into the room that she had appeared to have come out from. Getting up, I walked towards the door._

_'Wow, she wasn't kidding! I feel great', I thought as I walked through the doorway, into the room she had walked into._

_I looked in awe as my eyes scanned the room, the room was decorated in the similar décor from the previous room, but it seemed to almost radiate with the feeling of peace... it felt warm. Zecora trotted over to a crate and used her mouth to grab hold of a... crowbar that was on the floor? I rushed over and stopped by her side._

"_Want me to help?" I asked, placing my hand just below the crowbar, not wanting to just rip it out from her mouth._

_She smiled at my offer, gently placing the crowbar in my hand, she trotted off to do something else that I didn't know of. Turning towards the crate, I jammed the hook of the crowbar into the crack of the lid. As I pressed down on one end of the crowbar, I began to wonder._

_'This crowbar doesn't fit with the looks of this place, oh well, every home needs tools, right?' I asked myself ._

_Shrugging it off, I pressed down harder. Finally, the wooden lip popped off as the nails could no longer keep the lid secured from the force of my prying. Looking inside, I saw that it as filled with cotton, was she some sort of doll maker? Zecora popped out of nowhere and placed her fore-hooves into the cotton filled crate and rummaged through it. She smiled as I heard something clunk against the side of the crate. Pulling something out, I noticed that it was a bow._

"_What's that for?" I asked._

"_This, my strange friend. Is to start fires for warmth and light, my family from my homelands, they send", she said as she smiled dreamily at the present that her family had sent to her._

_She placed the bow in my hands and butted her head against the side of the crate, pushing it towards the wall. I watched as she walked back and grabbed the lid and tossed it towards the crate, landing perfectly on the top of the open crate, sealing the cotton within. Looking down at the bow, I suddenly saw a flash of images quickly switch from one to another in my mind. _

_'What was that? … I saw... myself, and that strange person in the forest as well... Was that me doing all that?' I thought._

_One of the images that flashed through my mind was an image that showed me and that person wearing somewhat similar armor, but of different colors. We were both fighting some weird bird... lion creatures? I had a black bow in my hands, he had a rifle of some sort in his, the thing was shining a white light. Another image showed me that I was firing some sort of weird looking black orbs at him, but we were somewhere else. We both had... wings. We were flying over what looked like to be a war of some sorts. I looked down at my hands, I remember seeing myself in one of those images, snapping my fingers and something came out. Shrugging, I leaned the bow on my leg and raised my hands up to my face. Snapping my fingers, I watched as black sparks came from my hands._

_'Now that's pretty weird...', I thought as I reached down and grabbed the bow and walked into the other room that Zecora had walked into._

"_Hey, Zecora. Where do you want me to put this?" I called out to her._

_~Time Skip: 11 pm~_

_Throughout the remainder of the day, I had helped Zecora with every little thing I could around her hut, which was actually a hollow tree. There was even a ladder in the very small second floor of the hut, that led to the roof of the hut. I was lying down on one of the branches on the tree. I was wondering what I was... who I was. Why couldn't I remember who I was? All I know was that I was some sort of fighter or soldier, from what those images were showing me. I didn't know anything else, but my memories had several large chunks that were missing from the whole of my memory. I toyed with the fastening of the robe as I thought over the last few hours, Zecora said she took my clothes off to clean them. She didn't want to dirty her bed... she took of my clothes... which means she saw me naked, great, just great. _

_Zecora came out of the little hatch and placed my clothes at the edge of the opening._

"_Thanks, Zecora", I said, smiling down at her as I looked over my side._

"_Thank you, kind sir. For you helped with my chores, so quickly that you were a blur", she smiled as she climbed back down the ladder._

_Snapping my fingers, I teleported my clothes onto myself as I teleported the robe off of me. Over the past few hours of helping Zecora, I had more memories pop up in my mind from time to time, I even decided to try out what I was doing in one of them. It was well worth it, I learned that I could use magic, which Zecora said was quite odd, seeing as I wasn't a unicorn. Only then did I really think I was on drugs or something, talking zebras, unicorns? Being on drugs was the only possibly, until she said that there were also talking ponies and pegasi out t here as well, now I was sure that I was in a coma or something._

_I closed my eyes as I exhaled. I still didn't understand, what am I? Who am I? Those were the questions I want answered, Asking Zecora would be pointless, seeing as she just found me in the forest, before I was about to be killed by those weird wooden wolves. I yawned loudly, I was really tired after helping Zecora for the past few hours._

_'Guess I'll sleep out here, it's pretty warm out too', I thought as I folded my arms behind me head._

_I'll figure out all of this tomorrow._

_~Time Skip: Four am~_

_I woke up as I felt my face get hit by something. Quickly pushing myself up, I saw that it was the floor, I had rolled off of the tree branch and fallen no the roof of Zecora hut. Groaning as I rubbed my face, I flipped onto my back and looked up at the sky. Several black objects zipped through the air, buzzing as they past over head._

~End of Story?~

"And after that, I ate breakfast with Zecora and later heard loud explosions nearby, so I went over there and saw that John was at the bottom of that giant crater, I still didn't know who he was then but still I shot the Changelings", I said.

"Wait, that doesn't explain how you're back from the dead", John said, scowling at me as he rubbed his chin.

"Oh, that. Well, Zecora later told me that she followed me when I ran from the clearing. She was picking herbs from nearby bushes when she heard and saw black lighting strike down. She watched as you were blown away from the force, she she wasn't, since she said she was taking cover from behind a tree.. right?" I asked, looking over at the zebra mare.

She nodded.

"Well, she said that after you were blown away, she watched as the armor slowly began to grow gray as a black glow emitted from my armor. It suddenly dropped to the floor as the energy that escaped from the armor began to gather above the pile of my armor. The black energy slowly began to mold itself and form my body... and the other parts of that... neither of use can explain that", I shrugged as I lacked the information to tell them.

"I see! This makes sense now!" Princess Celestia said, we all turned to her.

"How?" I asked.

"Magic is the life of every unicorn and Alicorn. Your armor, and all of the other things you created and made permanent with your magic, is filled with a concentrated source of your magic, each containing a piece of your own life force", she said.

"Wait, that's sort of weird to me. When John and I were touching the Soul Sapping Gems, when we were in the Gryphon Kingdom, it didn't have the same effect as it did on Shining Armor", I said, looking over at John and Shining Armor.

"Or so we thought? John and yourself have far more magic than any unicorn I've ever seen, it could be that your magic continued to replace the magic that was being sapped from your body", she said.

"Oh... so memories are a part of our life force?" I asked.

"Well, seeing as you didn't remember anything when you returned, other than basic things, it's fairly obvious as to what the reason is. Your armor had the most largest concentration of your magic, being the largest object you made permanent with your magic, it only contained a large amount of your magic, but not the entirety of your magic. Thankfully, only your memories weren't copied into your armor as magical power, or you could have been missing something else", she said, that sent a chill down my spine.

"Wow... can't believe I understood all of that", John said.

"I'm surprised you even understood part of it", I laughed at him.

I quickly ducked as he threw a white dagger that he made with his magic. Everyone began to laugh at John's annoyance for being referred to as an idiot, even the Changeling.

"So, Twilight. Want to catch up on lost time?" I asked, wrapping my arm around Twilight's neck.

"I would love too, but I made a promise to Chipper. We can be together while we help him change his life... in Ponyville?" She said.

"Sounds great. As long as we're together, I don't mind", I said as I brought her closer to myself.

"Alright, to Ponyville?" John said.

"Yeah, to Ponyville", I said s I stood up.

"Zecora, if you would like, I could teleport you back to your home in the Everfree Forest", Celestia offered.

The zebra accepted the offer, seeing as it's a long way back to the forest by hoof. We watched as she disappeared.

"Okay, let's get to Ponyville then", I said.

Chipper, Rainbow Dash, and John followed us out of the room and onto the balcony. Just as I was about to snap my fingers, John spoke.

"Hey, Chipper. You hurt my friends, I'll kill you myself", John said, glaring at the Changeling.

"I got it. Don't worry, I want to change my life", he said, smiling at John.

Guess John still didn't like him... not like I did either, but Celestia did say that he was telling the truth.

* * *

**Chapter 10! :D And this fanfic has almost hit 1k views :P. Surprised the very few lines of dialogue I gave Zecora didn't take up more than a few hours of thinking... I had writing rhymes that need to make sense, or at least a little sense in my case. None the less! Zecora, you will always be one of my favorite ponies :D. Thank Celestia, I finally finished this large portion of fighting, time for some peaceful writing. Don't worry, the rest of this fanfic isn't going to be just peaceful writing, wait for the future parts :D**

**Please leave a Review!**


	11. Chapter 11: Meeting the Girls

I had teleported us all into Twilight;s library. Chipper seemed to be doing fine, seeing as he was perfectly fine the first time he was teleported, including just now.

"Hey, Jeffry. I'm going to go get the girls and meet up at Sugarcube Corner. I bet they'll be surprised to see you", Rainbow Dash said as she flew towards the front door.

"Yeah, good idea. Don't tell them I'm alive though, just say that you want them to go to Sugarcube Corner", I said.

She nodded as she pushed the door open and flew out, leaving the library as we all waved good bye. Turning to the Changeling, who was busy looking around the room, I started to wonder what we should do while Rainbow Dash was gathering the girls. Where would he live? Sure, Princess Celestia said that he's safe, but him being around Twilight was still a bit unsettling for me. John and I were more than ready to kill him, if he were to try anything on anypony that is. The sound of feet padding down the wooden stairs could be heard as Twilight's assistant came running down the stairs.

"Twilight!" Spike cried out as he leaped from the middle of the stair case and wrapped his tiny arms around her neck, crying into her mane.

"Hey there Spike. Sorry for being away for so long", she said, rubbing the top of his scaly head lightly.

"Well, getting kidnapped doesn't really mean that you'll be able to visit anyways", John said, glancing over at the Changeling as he said it.

Spike let go of Twilight's neck and dropped to his feet and turned to look at John, but gasped as he saw me next to him.

"Holy moly! Jeffry! How are you here?" He exclaimed.

"Long story", I chuckled lightly as I waved my hand a little.

"Okay, maybe you can tell me that somed-HOLY MOLY!" He exclaimed again, jumping backwards as he saw Chipper walking towards us.

"Hi there, little guy", Chipper said.

"What's a Changeling doing here?!" Spike asked in a panick voice.

"Long story as well. Don't worry, he's... er, a _different_ Chaneling", I said.

"Yeah, different. But if he does anything, he's dead", John said, tapping the sword that was strapped to his waist.

"Should we get going? Rainbow Dash might have the girls at Sugarcube Corner by now, being the fast flier she is", Twilight asked.

"Sure, I would love to see the others again", I said as I wrapped my arm around her as she walked by me, towards the door.

"Yeah, can't wait to see Applejack and Applebloom again", John said, his attitude quickly changed when he said their names.

Walking towards the door, well, John ran out the door, we all headed towards Sugarcube Corner to meet up with the girls. As we walked down the street, eyes stared at us, mostly at me. At the corner of my eye, I could see a pony come galloping towards me, this pony was wearing armor that the Royal Guards at the castle wore.

"Jeffry! Is that you?" The pony said, a colt, but slightly older than the little kids at the school.

"Hi, does Celestia or Luna need something from me?" I asked, slightly confused as to who in the world was this colt.

"You don't recognize me?" He said, he took off his helmet and placed it on the floor by his hoof.

"No way, Silver Streak?" I gasped.

"Yup, I joined the Royal Guard last month", he said, smiling proudly.

"But aren't you a bit young to take a job like this?" I asked.

"Nah, my brother already joined the Royal Guard a long time ago, he's a commanding officer now", he said, pride hung on his words as he mentioned his big brothers position amongst the Royal Guard.

"Yeah, but he's older. Aren't you still just a teenager or something?" I asked as he placed his helmet back on his head as we resumed our walk to Sugarcube Corner.

"Yeah, but even if you're young, you can still sign up for the Royal Guard. The ones who are young, like myself, are only assigned jobs like guarding stuff and whatnot, never anything too dangerous", he said.

"Oh, that's good then", I sighed.

"Also...", he said as he trotted up to my other side, Twilight occupied the other side.

"_Why is there a Changeling with you?_" He whispered.

"Oh, him. Don't worry, he saved Twilight, and Celestia also looked into his mind to make sure that he wasn't planning anything, he'll be living in Ponyville... I think", I said as I looked around, several ponies around us gasped and stared at Chipper, several trotted away with great haste.

"Not sure how well that's going to play out, everypony's still afraid of Changelings to a certain degree, even after the little war we had with them", I sighed as I shook my head, Twilight was listening on as we chatted.

"That's true, but I want the others to at least accept Chipper. He's pretty nice, and he does take interest in ponies", Twilight said.

"Yeah, he wants to eat them", John said, popping out of nowhere.

"I don't trust him completely, but I'll give him some of my trust, seeing as he brought you back", I smiled as I hugged Twilight close to me as we walked, Sugarcube Corner was in view now.

"Thank you for trusting him, Jeffry. Hopefully when everypony sees that he's friends with someponies, they'll start to be more easy around him", she said as she trotted happily.

"Wow, I knew you ponies were creative, but what in the world is that?" Chipper asked as he looked up at the giant candy house.

"I still question the design and stability of this place, but it fits the theme of the store", I said.

Noise could be heard from inside of the store, probably Pinkie Pie doing something like throwing a party or something. Or they're just having a very loud conversation. The store suddenly grew quiet as the lights from within suddenly went out, something was going on. One by one, we walked up the three steps and I pushed open the door, expecting something, but wasn't expecting Pinkie Pie to suddenly throw streamers and confetti all over my face.

"Sur-PIRES!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed, but zipped away as she saw Chipper right behind me.

"Changeling! Everypony run for your lives!" One of the many ponies inside exclaimed.

Guess she had heard that someone new was coming and wanted to set up a surprise party, pretty impressive to see that she got it all done within a few minutes. Snapping my fingers, I used my magic to keep the ponies from escaping, not before I gave them some sort of explanation.

"Everypony, calm down!" Twilight shouted into the room.

Most of the panicking ponies stopped, but others still seemed to want to just burst out of the room.

"Um, Jeffry. I'll be going now", Silver Streak whispered as he slowly backed out of the room as I gave him a little wave to show that I was listening.

"Hey! It's Jeffry!" Pinkie Pie said, popping up in front of my face, almost seeming to have forget about the Changeling.

"Jeffry?" Another voice came from the crowd of ponies.

"Hey, it really is Jeffry!" Another voice exclaimed.

"He's back!" A familiar voice exclaimed.

Snapping my fingers, I released my magic from their bodies and allowed them to move again, regretting that almost instantly. They all started to charge at me once my magic was removed. I was tackled to the ground as several ponies in front of the stamped charged at be, but were pushed by the ones in the back, causing them to crash on top of me.

"Okay, I'm okay, jeez. Just get off, you all weight so much", I said as I tried to push them off.

I saw their bodies glow a light color, as John stepped forward from the doorway, his hand glowing a bright white color. Using his magic, he lifted them up and moved them back and set them on their hooves.

"Well Ah'll be, Jeffry! Yer back!" I heard a familiar accent filled voice say.

"Jeffry's back!" Another voice squeaked as I felt somepony tackle my legs, just as I stood up.

"Jeffry?" Another light voice said.

The girls all came out of the crowd, all trotting over to where I stood, slowly. John brought Applejack into a sudden hug and spun her with him as he spun his body in a circle, and then set her back on her hooves.

"How are you alive", Rarity said.

"It's a long story", I said, laughing lightly.

"Well, come on now. Aren't ya' gonna tell us about this here story of yers?" Applejack said, still hugging John.

"...Okay, buckle up, cause this might take a while", I said, sighing as I used my magic to yank a chair from a table by the front of the store.

Sitting down on the store, everypony sat on their hunches, I began to tell the story again of how I came back. I left out the part of how I killed the Changelings, or even the detail that I had encountered the Changelings, I needed to help Twilight with helping Chipper. If I had reminded them of all of the bad things the Changelings have done, he'll never be able to be integrated into their community. I even threw in some bits of the after story, saying that he was a nice person, seeing as he betrayed his own kind to get Twilight out of the hive and to earn himself a new life that he saw fit for himself. Many seemed to like him a little more when I mentioned the fact of his 'great' deed, but others were still a bit wary of him. Once my story was finished, the party started, many of them just went about eating, drinking, and chatting with one another, rather than go about with the main reason for this party.

Walking over to Chipper, I saw that he was just sitting on the wide window sill by the front of the shop. Just as I was walking towards him, the girls also followed behind as I went towards the Changeling.

"So, how do you like Ponyville so far?" I asked.

"It's okay so far, at least some of the ponies seem to be okay with me", he said as he turned towards me, but suddenly froze as his black face showed a light hue of red.

"So, what's yer name?" Applejack asked.

"...", he said nothing, he was staring at one of them.

"His name's Chipper", I answered for him as I waved my hand in front of his face.

The girls bombard him with more and more questions, trying to get to know him, well, all but the shy pegasus Fluttershy. He was still staring at one of them as he gave them brief answers to their questions, not really seeming to even give them more than half of his attention. Wanting to see who he was looking at, I moved towards him as several of the girls walked away to enjoy the party. Loud music was being played by a unicorn with an electric blue mane and tail, rocking some shades as well. Applejack and Applebloom went to dance and play with John, Applebloom being the one who wants to play with John. Getting on his level, I saw that he was either staring at Fluttershy and Rarity. Rarity walked away to enjoy the party as well, but Fluttershy just stood their, rubbing her left hoof with her right.

"H-hi... mister Chipper", Fluttershy said, barely audible over the loud music being blasted from the oversized speakers.

"H-h-hi", he said, even more nervous than the shy pegasus was.

"So... where do you live?" She asked.

"Uh, I-I don't have anywhere to live yet", he said, face redder than Big Mac's coat.

"Oh... so where will you be staying? I-if you don't mind me asking that is", she said, drooping her mane over her face, only one eye and part of her yellow face was visible.

"Um... I don't know", he said, gulping.

"If you want... you can stay at my cottage.. I have an extra guest room", she said, looking up at him as her head hung low.

Steam seemed to have erupted from his head as his face grew redder when she offered him a place to stay, her cottage no less.

"Um, uh.-! O-kay..", he stuttered, accepting her offer.

"Great!" She said, looking up a little.

"I'll take him to your cottage tonight, go enjoy the party", I said, trying to get her away from him before his face starts to melt.

As she trotted away, she looked over her shoulder and flashed him a small smile before disappearing into the crowd. Once she was out of view, he suddenly let out a loud gasp that could have rivaled the loud music that was being played.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Y-yeah, thanks for getting her away", he panted as he wiped his brow.

"What was that all about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"S-sorry, it's just... I never saw anypony... so... so...", he said, holding back the last word.

"Shy? Don't worry, she's like this to pretty much everypony... or everyone she meets for the first time, she'll start being more easy around you when she gets to know the new ponies or other creatures she meets. Well, she's very easy when it comes to handling animals", I said.

"Not shy... beautiful", he said.

"... What?" I said.

"Wuh, ba, uh, nothing", he said, fanning his black hoof in front of his face to show that he didn't mean that.

"Oh ho ho! You like her!" I started to laugh madly.

"N-no I don't!" He spat out like a high school teen.

"Love at first sight?" I said, wiping a tear as it came out of my eye.

"Okay... fine, I'll admit it. She's really beautiful... but that doesn't mean I like her!" He said, face growing redder than he was before.

"Oh, this is going to be precious. You love her, and you're going to be staying at her cottage, this is rich!" I said, straightening up as Twilight trotted over to us.

"What's so funny?" Twilight asked.

Just as I was about to tell Twilight about Chippers love at first sight moment, he leaped onto me and placed his hoof over my mouth. Pushing him off, I was about to say it, but he leaped onto my back and covered my mouth again with his hoof. We continued to wrestle around as I tried to tell Twilight, while Chipper kept trying to keep me from saying it.

"What's going on?" John asked, Applebloom sitting on his shoulders, her fore hooves on top of his head.

Finally managing to push him off of me, I kept him at bay with one of my arms and spoke.

"He loves Fluttershy", I laughed, the others gasped.

"Really?" Applebloom asked.

"Wow, didn't expect this to happen", Twilight said, not seeming to be a least bit worried.

"Should I kill him?" John said, going for his sword.

"Nah, it's okay. Twilight, we don't need to look for a home for Chipper now", I said, digging my heels into the ground as Chipper tried to push me over again, his face red as can be.

"Oh, really? Why?" Twilight asked.

"Fluttershy offered to let him stay in the guest room of his cottage", now she seemed worried.

"... Do I kill him now?" John asked again, unsheathing his sword.

"It's okay, I want to see how this turns out. Fluttershy doesn't seem to know that he likes her", I said, still keeping him from pushing me over.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Fluttershy walking over towards us, two cups rested on her back. Looking back at Chipper, his eyes were closed as he tried to tried to push me over to keep me quiet again. Stepping to the side, I took me hand off of his face and he charged forward, crashing into Fluttershy. Fluttershy let out an 'eep' as he landed on her back, Chipper laid on top of her. The two looked at each other, while we looked on, their faces were both red. Their faces were only inches apart from one another, I could see that Chipper was sweating like mad now.

"... Okay, I'm going to kill him now", John said as he formed a gun with his magic and aimed it at him.

Shaking my head, I picked up Applebloom and set her down on the window sill that Chipper and I were sitting on before he tackled me to the ground. Placing my hand on John's shoulder, I shocked him, black electricity flowed out of my palm and through his body. John dropped to the floor, twitching. Walking over to the two blushing ponies... or pony and a Changeling. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him up and placed him to my side as I offered my hand to Fluttershy. Placing her hoof in my hand, I pulled her up.

"Sorry about tackling you", Chipper said.

"I-it's okay... you didn't meant to... right?" She asked, tracing her hoof over the floorboards.

"Of course not!" He blurted out.

Fluttershy just stared at his face, and suddenly giggled a little. Chipper smiled a little and chuckled lightly.

"You're funny, Chipper", Fluttershy said.

"Thanks", he said, blushing as he rubbed the back of his face.

"Want to get something to drink? I was bringing over some punch for us to drink, but I kinda dropped t hem when you tackled me", she said, giggling a little more.

"Sure", he said, smiling back at her.

The two stepped over John, who was still twitching, and walked through the crowd to get to the refreshments table.

"Well, that went better than I thought", I said as I sat down by Applebloom.

"Wow, didn't think something like this would happen", Twilight said as she sat down on my other side.

"Yeah, he's a bulky Changeling, and she's a shy pegasus... that doesn't seem to match", I laughed as I shook my head.

"Still, I think Fluttershy sees him only as a friend right now", Twilight said.

"Yeah, but let's just see how this turns out", I said.

* * *

**Chapter 11 :D Hope you guys liked this chapter! I have nothing to say owo;;**

**Please leave a Review!**


	12. Chapter 12: Getting Along

After the party had ended, everypony left, but us and the girls. We all stuck around to eat, seeing as the party guests had eaten every last bit of food before any of us could have any food, other than some punch. I still don't see how Pinkie Pie manages to pay for everything, from what the girls say, Pinkie Pie has thrown several of parties for each and every new pony that comes to town. Putting that aside, we were all seated at several tables that were neighboring one another. Twilight sat by my right, and Chipper sat by my left, so I could keep an eye on him if he were to try anything on any of the girls. John was going to do it, but he's still on the floor, maybe I shocked him a little hard this time?

"Hey, Chipper. What do Changelings eat?" I asked as I took a bite out of a tart I was eating.

"Well, Changelings feed off energy from other creatures, but we've only absorbed the energy from ponies, since we can't seem to take it from any other creature", he said as he poked a cupcake with his hoof.

The room fell silent at his answer, noticing this, he quickly cleared up the worries we had.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to take any energy from any of you, or anypony else", he said.

"But how will you live if you can't eat?" Fluttershy whispered.

"Well, I took an energy crystal from the hive, before I left hive", he said, but I was the only one who saw that he had suddenly realized something, but kept it to himself.

"Energy crystal? What's that?" Some sort of sparkling gem?" Rarity asked, her eyes were sparkling.

"Um, it's something that one of the scouts discovered a while back. It can store the energy that we eat, once we extract it from ponies to save it for later", he said as he went back to poking the cupcake.

"... How do you extract the energy from ponies?" Twilight asked, everyponies ears perked up, all curious to hear the answer as well.

"Well... um, cover her ears please", Chipper pointed at Applebloom.

Applebloom just smiled as Applejack covered her little sisters ears, Applebloom just continued to smile, not sure as to what was happening.

"Well, Changelings can use some bases of magic, transformation, energy extracting, and very basic things that unicorns can do. When we extract energy from ponies, it's a rather painful experience, one of the reasons why I despise being a Changeling... want me to say anymore?" Chipper asked, looking down as an expression of dread hung on his half blinded face.

"N-no, that's enough. Fluttershy's pretty scared as it is", I laughed lightly, his ears perked up a little as he looked over at the shy pegasus, she was shaking a bit.

"Sorry about that, Fluttershy", Chipper said, smiling a little.

"It's okay", she whispered, smiling back as she stopped shaking a little.

'_I take that back, maybe she doesn't see him as a friend.. anymore that is. It's only been what, less than a few hours before they met?_' I thought as we all looked at the two as they smiled at one another.

The two finally noticed that we were staring at them, blush burned on their cheeks as they turned away from one another. Twilight and I looked at each other and smiled, the others just looked at one another and back at the two unexpected crushes that were right in front of them. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab the top of my head and yank me out of my seat, throwing me out the front door.

"PAY BACK TIME!" John shouted as he grabbed a chair and charged out the front door.

Swinging the chair, he missed as I leaned back and then swung my leg at him, smashing the chair to bits, going to have to pay back Ms. Cake for that chair. The fact that the chair was broken made no difference to him as he stomped down on the end of a broken chair leg, sending it flipping into the air. Catching it, he threw it like a throwing knife, but I caught it and whipped around, throwing it right back at him. Just as he was about to swing his leg up to kick it away, I pointed my hands at him as black electricity crackled in my hands.

"Evil Jedi lighting!" I laughed as I fired black lighting at him, electrifying him.

The girls and Chipper were walking out of Sugarcube Corner, just as John fell face first onto the ground, giving off a loud thud as his face struck the ground first.

"Do you two always need to do this?" Rarity said as they trotted towards us.

"Not always, but he started it, not me", I said as I shrugged.

"'Ay, John. Yer all burnt", Applebloom giggled as she jumped on the back of the smoking human.

"So, what now? Lunch is done...", I said.

"I have some orders to complete, ta ta everypony", Rarity said as she trotted away.

"I'm going to head back to Canterlot to see if there's anything left for me to do", Rainbow Dash said before she flew off, not giving us a chance to even say goodbye.

"Pinkie Pie's still pigging out on cupcakes that Chipper left untouched", Twilight said, looking back at the store.

"Well Ah'm headed back to the farm with mah sis', plenty of chores to do", Applejack said as her sister got off of John and scrambled onto her sisters back.

"Mind bringing John with you? Maybe he can help you when he stops pretending to be a dying campfire", I said as I nudged him with my food.

"Are you even alive anymore?" I asked.

"... Go kill yourself", John grumbled as he slowly pushed himself off of the ground.

"Yeah, he's alive", I said.

We watched as the three of them walked away, towards the farm to get some chores done. I held in a laugh as I saw smoke coming from his butt, his clothing was charred black at several places. Shaking my head, I turned towards Chipper and Fluttershy.

"So, what about you two? Got anything to do?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know much about this town, other than the boarder of it", Chipper said as he rubbed the top of his head.

"I could show you around... if you'd like me to, that is", Fluttershy said, she was hiding behind her mane again, but clearly smiling from my angle.

"T-that'll be great", Chipper said as his face grew red again.

"Well, go on you two", I laughed as I placed my arm around Twilight.

"So Twilight, why don't you and I make up for lost time?" I asked, pulling her close to me.

"I'd love that", Twilight said as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Take care, you two!" I called out to the two of them as Twilight and I walked away to catch up after five months of me being 'dead'.

*P.O.V. Change: Chipper*

The yellow pegasus and I watched as Jeffry and Twilight walked away to make up for lost time, leaving the two of us alone in the middle of the streets as passing ponies stared at us. Well, they were staring at me mostly, most of them glared at me. I knew the reason why, they hated me, they hated all Changelings to be frank, seeing as my kind had attacked, kidnapped, and even killed many ponies in the past week or so. Maybe someday I could find a way to redeem myself for what I've done in the past, maybe then they'll accept me as one of their own... one of their own. Looking down at myself, at my black elastic like skin of mines, and then at the yellow pegasus who was looking down at her hooves as she fidgeted around. The two of us were close to being nothing alike, save for the fact that we looked similar by the only feature that resembled one another, our body shapes... having four legs and all. They had fur, we had black skin, pegasi had feathered wings while as Changelings had these insect wings. Unicorns had horns and could advance themselves in the art of magic, while as Changelings also had horns, but could barely perform any other spell than the one we needed most, and that was to feed ourselves.

Looking at the yellow pegasus some more, I sighed. This might be love at first sight, like Jeffry teased me about, but could we really love one another? Having little to no similarities, I for one, being hated by her fellow ponies, could I even deserve to even know her? Even if I love her... from just looking at her for the first time, could she even feel love for me in anyway... other than just a friend of some sorts? My heart sank at the thought of losing somepony I just felt feelings for that I've never even thought a Changeling could feel. Us Changelings were all males, save for the fact that the only possible female was the born Changeling Princesses and Queens, we had no goals of finding love amongst one another, seeing as that's the near impossible.

I let out another dreadful sigh as I let the thoughts of my new so called "better life", progressing in such conditions and thoughts. My sigh caught the attention of the pegasus as she looked up from the ground and cocked her head to the side as she looked at me.

"Mister Chipper? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, slightly raising her right hoof up, just an inch above the ground.

"Fluttershy, how old are you?" I asked, looking over at the pegasus.

"W-well, I'm 20", Fluttershy responded.

"We're the same age, no reason to be formal with me, we're friends... right?" I asked, raising my ridge of an eyebrow at her.

**(A/N: Okay, I'm going to base everyponies age off of human age, and that the girls are all around their early 20's, John and Jeffry as well... I should mention information like this in the beginning...)**

"I-I guess so...", she said, rubbing her hoof with the other.

"So, did you want to ask me something?" I asked, raising my head a little, I was just a few inches taller than her.

"Y-yes.. I was wondering why you seem so upset... do you miss your friends?" Fluttershy asked.

"I am... no, I'm not upset, and no, I don't miss my friends back home. They're the opposite of what I want to be, I want to be someone who can be respected by you ponies", I said, giving her a faint smile, I didn't want to make her upset as well.

"Oh... do you want to do anything?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well... I don't know much about the town, do you mind showing me around? I would love to know this town better, if I'm going to be living here", I asked.

"Of course, Chipper. Where would you like to start?" Fluttershy asked, she sounded a bit happier.

"Anywhere you want, you're town and all", I replied, smiling to the pegasus.

"Okay... we'll start from the north corner of the town then", Fluttershy said as she pointed towards the direction of said location.

"Okay, lead the way", I said.

She smiled back at me before she turned around and trotted towards the direction of where she had pointed with her hoof. I smiled to myself as I trotted after her, maybe my life wouldn't be so bad here, she seemed to be okay with me around her.

~Jeffry and Twilight... Wherever the Hell They Are~

Twilight and I walked down the street as we leaned towards one another, enjoying the company of one another after being apart for several months. We didn't have any place in mind, but we just kept on walking down the street, welcoming anything that comes into mind. Everything was peaceful, but I could feel the presence of somepony following us, not hostile, but rather annoying. I stopped walking, Twilight halted as well when she felt my arm give her body a light tug back as my body anchored her in place. Forming my sword in its sheathe on my waist, I turned around to look at who was following us, it was a familiar mare.

"... Is that you.. Glimmering Star?" I asked as I started to slowly recognize who it was.

The mare nodded, her golden mane was no longer hanging down freely, but was now done in a ponytail. Her coat was a lighter hue of brown now, and she was just a few inches shorter than Twilight, nearly the height of Silver Streak.

"Wow... Twilight, do you ponies grow this fast?" I asked as I leaned towards Twilight.

"Yes, ponies grow fairly quickly once they've reached a certain age. We remain little in size for a few years, until we've earned our cutie marks, only then do our bodies start showing signs of growing", Twilight explained.

**(A/N: Let's just say that all that is true^^)**

"Excuse me, Jeffry, but I was wondering if you knew where Silver Streak was", Glimmering Star said as she smiled a little at us.

"Um... er, sorry, but I don't know where he is", I said, my heart sank a little as I saw the mares' face grow sad

"It's okay, I'll go see if I can find him somewhere else", she said before she bowed a little before she trotted away.

"... I feel so guilty for not being able to help her...", I said as I felt as if someone had ripped a piece of my soul out.

"Yeah... she grew so pretty over the years", Twilight said as she watched as Glimmering disappeared around he corner of a building.

"... I wonder what you would look like with your mane like in a ponytail", I said as I rubbed the underside of my chin.

"Hmm, I never tried anything with my mane before", she said as her horn glowed.

Using her magic, she made her mane into a ponytail.

"Well?" She asked, looking at me as she kept her hair in a ponytail.

"...Looks good, but I think it looked better the way it was... what about this?" I said as I snapped my fingers

Her mane started to float upwards and formed a mohawk, I started to laugh like crazy. Twilight looked up and saw the front of the mohawk and just stared at me. A smug grin formed on her face as he horn glowed. I suddenly felt my hair starting to move and puff up.

"Wow... it actually looks good", I said as I reached up and touched the afro on my head, still don't see how my semi-short hair could be made into an afro.

Releasing both of our magical hold on our hair, our hair went back to normal. We laughed a little at our little play with out hair. From the corner of my eye, I could see several of the skeleton ponies that I had created when Discord took over my body, they were walking down the street.

"Hey, what are they doing in here?" I asked, turning around completely to look at them.

"I thought those things don't come out of the forest", Twilight asked as she stepped closer to me.

Placing my arm around her, we watched as the group of about nine skeleton ponies walked down the streets. Ponies rushed away with great haste to avoid them. They were obviously scared at the fact that these things have never left the forest since _that_ day, these things wouldn't have any reason to come into town. Suddenly, all but two of the skeletons disappeared in a puff of black smoke. The two of them stopped when they were about two feet away. Bowing, the one closer to me raised its head and looked at me with it's empty eyes.

"...Should I try talking to it?" I looked over at Twilight.

"Hrrrugh...", the skeleton pony said as the flames within it's armor burned hotter.

"You can try... but can it speak words?" Twilight asked as she placed her hoof on my back.

The skeleton pony just cocked its head to the side, the bones within its armor creaked as it moved. Twilight and I just stared at the two of them as they remained still, just staring back. The still bowing pony slowly got up.

"Should we just ignore them?" I asked.

"It doesn't seem to be doing anything to ask us anything, I guess so?" I shurgged.

"Want to head back to the library? It's going to get dark soon", she said.

"Sure.. wait, seriously? Wow, time goes by fast", I said.

We started to walk down the street, to Twilight's library. The sound of hoofsteps could be heard as the two of them began to follow us. Sweat began to bead down the back of my neck, this was starting to feel a bit weird for something that Discord created with my body. Why were they out of the forest? Where did the others that were with it go? Questions began to bounce around in my head, but I pushed them aside to enjoy what time I had left in this day to be with twilight. That was hard to do when something with a creepy face like that following you. Reaching the library, the damn things were still behind us. Pushing the door open, we walked in, and they followed us inside.

"Hey you two... why are those things in here?" Spike asked, who was busy reading a book.

"Don't ask, these things are freaking stalking us now", I said as Twilight walked up the stairs.

"I'll be upstairs if you need anything", Twilight said.

"Okay! I'll come up later", I said as I walked into the kitchen, the skeleton ponies just stood in the center of the room.

'_Jeffry? Are you there?_' I heard Celestia call out to me with her magic.

'_Yeah, you need anything?_' I asked.

'_I'm sorry to pull you away from Twilight so soon, but tomorrow I would like you to come to Canterlot. There are some pressing matters that I need you and John to take care of, we've found something in the Everfree Forest_', she said, something hung on her words, but I couldn't make out what it was.

'_Okay, I'll get John in the morning_', I said.

'_That is not needed, I have contacted John before hoof_', she said.

Suddenly, the other room began to glow a dark purple color. Shading my eyes, I walked out of the kitchen and into the larger main room. Spike wasn't in the room anymore, but those two skeleton ponies still were. The one behind the first placed its hoof on the others back, and the flames started to fly out of the cracks of its armor and into the other. I watched as the two of them turned black and mold together, their bodies began to form something. Drawing my sword, I readied for anything that could come at me from the two combining skeletons. Once the flames had died down, the bright light no longer shining, I gasped. It was me!

'_Jeffry? Are you there?_' I heard Celestia ask.

'… _I'll talk to you tomorrow_', I said before I severed the connection.

I just stared at him... well, me.

"Yo", he said as he raised his hand to me.

Something pinged inside of my head, his voice had a slight ring to it... it wasn't like my own voice, but familiar.

"Wait... you're th-",

"Yes, the other you from inside your head". He chuckled.

"What do you want? And how the hell are you out of my head?" I asked.

"Well, when you were about to die, I knew I was going to die too, but I wasn't going to let myself just die like that. So I went into the body of one of the skeleton ponies that were at the clearing in the maze. And here I am", he said.

"Okay... what do you want?" I asked, gripping the hilt of the sword tighter.

"I've got somethings to say to you about what Celestia meant about that _thing_ in the forest, but we'll talk together when we're at the castle, get some rest", he said as he disappeared with a puff of black smoke.

Scratching my head, I wondered. What was going on? And how did he know about my chat with Celestia? Well, seeing as he was a skeleton pony a while ago, he must have wandered the forest for a while and saw whatever Celestia was talking about, before she did. Walking up the stairs, I snapped my fingers and the lights in the lower level of the library all turned off. Entering Twilight's room, I closed the door behind me and saw that Spike was asleep in his basket of a bed, Twilight was already in bed. Slipping under the covers with her, I closed my eyes.

'_I wonder what the two of them found in the forest.._', was the last thing I thought before I pushed away all of my thoughts to allow myself to sleep.

* * *

**Just a future heads up. I will be writing only ONE lemon fanfic in my entire life... unless it does well and people like it, only then will I write more lemons. And no, it will not be My Little Pony, it's going to be of Pokemon, which I will write after the next fanfic that I have planned after I finish this fanfic. It is also a humanxpony fanfic, so stick around if you want to read both :D. Spring break approaches... and you know what that means! Faster uploads :D Unless I act like a total lazy ass and not work on any of it...**

**Please leave a Review!**

**EDIT: 3/21/13**

**I've received a review about the skeleton ponies. Only the ones present at Jeffry's death and his 'revival' were killed off. Others far away were not effected by either events. Sorry for not specifying the details about this. **

**I'm not going to bother to make you guys wait for this information, but when the skeletons in the clearing also died with Jeffry, the other him went inside the "Dead" skeleton pony and eventually came back to life with his OWN magic.**


	13. Chapter 13: New Discovery?

I groaned as I felt light hitting my closed eyelids. Applebloom must have come into the room again and turned on the lights to sleep next to me. Just after I heard a light 'click' from the light switch being turned on, the sound of tiny hooves padded against the wooden floor as the little filly quickly scampered up the bed and onto my chest. She let out a tiny sigh as she buried her face onto my chest.

"Applebloom... what is it this time?" I asked as I placed my hand on top of her head, not bothering to open my eyes to let the light burn them out.

"Ah had another nightmare...", Applebloom whimpered, I felt her look up as my hand shifted from her movement.

"What was it?... Or don't tell me, if you don't want to remember it", I said.

"... It was about them Changelings... something's not right", she said.

"Changelings? How do you know something's not right?" I asked, cracking one eye open to look at the still slightly shaking filly.

"Ah don't know... but somethin's goin' to happen, Ah just know it", she said as she covered her head with her tiny hooves.

"Well, I don't know if that's true or not, but don't worry. If any of those things come at you, you can count on me to kick their sorry rear ends if they even come near you", I smiled a little as I ruffled her mane, I felt something missing.

"Thanks John, yer the best", she said as she nuzzled herself onto my chest a little more.

"Where's the hat I gave you?" I asked, patting her head to see if it was there or not.

"Oh, Ah stopped wearin' it. It's too big and I'm worried that Ah mahgt lose it someday, Ah'll wear it when mah heads a little bigger", she said.

"Oh, okay. Come on, get some rest it's... midnight", I said as I let out a yawn.

"Okay", she said before she closed her eyes.

"Applebloom... you mind if I close the lights?" I asked.

"Sure, Ah was scared, but yer here, Ah don't need no lahgt now", she said as she let out a light giggle.

Using my magic, I pushed down on the light switch, turning off the lights. I chuckled a little to myself, how in the world would she know if those things would try anything anymore? We've defeated them, they've fled the forest and so far none have been spotted and no ponies have been seen or reported being missing or kidnapped. Though I was getting a weird feeling that she could be right... oh well, I've got to get up in the morning to get to Canterlot, Princess Celestia wanted to tell Jeffry and myself something.

~In Jeffry's Mind~

_Opening my eyes, I was greeted by darkness, which only meant one thing. I was in a dream. Sitting upright, I looked around and saw nothing but a lone wooden table that had a teapot and two teacups that were resting on top of the table. Getting to my feet, I walked towards the table. I looked around some more as I walked towards the table, in hopes of seeing anything other than the table and the everlasting darkness. Once I was at the table, I saw a piece of paper sticking out from the spout of the teapot. Pulling the piece of paper out, I read it._

"_Don't know when you'll read this, but I'm not here, but I am alive. You usually come here whenever your out cold or dreaming, so here's how things work in here. I'm the one usually in control here, but you can do everything that you've seen me do in here. Just think of it as another world where you can use magic...", I read out loud._

_Crumpling the paper up, I tossed it behind me, the paper suddenly turned black and disappeared as it broke off into tiny pieces. Suddenly, several rectangular windows appeared all around me, all empty inside. Just as I reached up to touch one, all four of the windows glowed, an outline of a hand glowed with a light blue hue. Looking down at my hand and then at the windows, I saw that my hand might be a perfect match for these weird glowing outlines. Shrugging, I placed my open palm on top of one of the windows glowing hand prints. I watched as the light blue glow turned a pitch black color, barely visible with the black background. The other windows turned black and dropped to the ground, shattering into tiny pieces. Not taking my gaze off of the one window that was still intact, I watched as nothing was left but the boarder of the window._

_Suddenly, within the window, a image... no, another vision came through. Assuming that these dreams were somehow things that would happen the future. I watched as giant crystals appeared. Looking closer at the vision, I saw that it was some sort of room that was made entirely out of crystals, in the middle was a pony. The pony's coat was a pink, but it was quite dirty as well. The pony's mane was also a mess. It looked like a mare... she was wearing some sort of crown? Leaning closer to the window, I saw that this mare had wings and a unicorns horn, maybe she was somepony of royalty? But why would she be here... Suddenly, the vision changed, the crystals within the room were now all a dull gray, and the mare... well, wasn't really a pony anymore. All that was left in the center of the room was a skeleton, a crown rested on the skull of the pony. A faint laugh came from every corner of the room as the laughter echoed off the crystals surface._

Wake Up Time~

Another dream, but what was it of? It wasn't somepony I recognized, nor was that a place I've ever seen before. I pushed the thoughts of the unknown pony and place aside. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw a purple leg. Turning my head to the side to look at Twilight, I saw only her other leg. I also felt pressure on my chest, turning my head back to where it was, I moved my head up to look at my chest. Sure enough, Twilight had somehow managed to move on top of me when we were both asleep. I smiled as I plopped my head back down onto the pillow.

"Twilight... Twilight?" I whispered to the sleeping mare, patting her shoulder.

"Mmmm...mm?" She moaned as she lifted her head up a little, her mane was in the shape of a crooked "L".

"Time to wake up", I said as I looked at the window, it was light outside, no clocks were in my line of sight as all I could see was bits of the room and a purple unicorns body as it blocked most of my view.

"*Groan* One more hour...", she groaned again as she changed her position so that her head was all that I saw.

Rolling my eyes, I reached up with my hand and plugged her nose. I watched as she started to wiggle her nose and then get up immediately, my fingers coming out of her nose too.

"Okay, okay... I'm up", she pouted as she wiped her nose.

"Sorry about that Twilight, but you were on top of me and Princess Celestia contacted me last night. I need to go to Canterlot with John to hear something she wants the say to us", I said as I wiped my fingers on the blanket... going to have to clean this stuff later on.

"Oh, okay. Would you like some breakfast?" She asked as she wobbled out of bed.

"Sure", I said as I got up and placed my back on the edge of the mattress and cracked my back.

"What would you like? I can make you some pancakes", she said.

"Hmm, how about a salad? I need something else than cupcakes and other pastries and the likes", I chuckled lightly as I stretched.

Pinkie Pie had incorporated several of my great grandmothers recipes into Sugarcube Corners menu. She even did a great job of making them exactly the way that my great grandmother had made them back in our world. Walking out of the room, I stood at the top of the stairs and stretched once more.

'_Jeffry? Are you awake?_' I heard Celestia ask.

'_Yeah, I'll be heading over to Canterlot soon, just after breakfast... if that's okay with you_', I asked as I turned to walk down the stairs, but stopped.

'_That's fine, but I would like you to gather Twilight's friends... and the Changeling, Chipper, as well. I would like all of you to come to Canterlot as well. This is something that needs to be discussed with all of you_', she said, her voice was filled with seriousness.

'_Uh, okay. But why the Changeling?_' I asked.

'_Not that I do not trust him, but it is unsafe to leave him in Ponyville, for the citizens might attack him, he will be unprotected with all of you gone_', she said.

'_Okay, got it. Not like he can't protect himself, but okay. I'll make sure to get them all together. Mind telling John to bring Applejack... what about Applebloom?_' I asked.

'_No, I do not wish for a filly to go into the place we'll be going_', she said, rather quickly.

'_Okay, see you then_', I said before I severed the connection.

Princess Celestia sounded pretty serious, but also a bit worried about what this was all about. Where were we going? Pushing the thoughts aside, I walked forward to get downstairs to meet up with Twilight in the kitchen. I seemed to have forgotten that I was at the very edge of the top step, and walked right off the top, not expecting a sudden drop. Without any footing on one leg, I fell down the stairs.

"...Ow", I said.

"Jeffry, are you okay?" I heard Twilight call out from the kitchen.

"I am, but not the wall", I said as I pulled my arm out of the wall.

Going to have to fix that later. I walked towards the kitchen and saw that Twilight was making pancakes for herself, a bowl of salad was on the kitchen table.

"Thanks Twilight", I said as I kissed her on the cheek as I walked by her and to the table.

"Your welcome, do you want a fork, or does your kind eat food like this with something else?" Twilight asked.

"I do need a fork, but I got that covered", I said as I sat down.

Snapping my fingers, I formed my magic into a make-shift fork. Twilight just giggled at my creativity. Looking down at the salad, I saw that it had all the sorts, apple slices decorated the rim of the bowl, some grapes were scattered on top of the leaves of lettuce, diced onions, some sort of dressing... this was on the boarder line of being a salad and a fruit salad. I dug right in, just as Twilight brought over a leaning tower of pancakes and placed it on the table. I swear, my end of the table went up when she sat the tower of pancakes down.

"Twilight... how are you going to eat all of that?" I asked as I pointed at the tower with my fork.

"I'm not going to eat all of this, I'm going to save some for Spike when he wakes up", Twilight said as she leaned to the side so we could see one another when we spoke.

"I'm already awake", Spike said as he walked into the room, letting out a loud yawn.

"Oh, would you like some pancakes?" Twilight asked.

"Sure...", Spike said as he placed both of his short arms on the chair and tried to climb on, but his legs just scratched at the air as he tried to pull himself up.

Once he was sitting on the chair, Twilight used her magic to bring over another plate and placed it in front of Spike, along with a fork and a knife. She then used her magic to lift off several of the many pancakes she had made for herself and placed it on his plate. Spike began to eat slowly and Twilight went back to her own tower of pancakes and began to dig into her breakfast.

"Hey Twilight, Princess Celestia contacted me a little earlier, she wants the girls, John, Chipper, and I to meet her at the castle", I said as I stabbed an apple slice with my fork and lifted it up and took a bite out of it.

"Oh, okay. Do we need to leave now?" She asked.

"No, but we shouldn't make her wait for long, she sounded a bit worried", I said as I finished off the apple slice I was eating.

"Okay, I'll finish these and we'll go get the girls", she said as she sliced another square off of a pancake.

"Don't eat too fast though. Applejack and John should be headed here, or the castle. Rainbow Dash is already at the castle, since she's working as a Wonderbolt now. All that's left is the others", I said as I finished the last of my salad.

"Okay, should we go now?" She asked.

"Aren't you still... eating?" I asked as I looked up to see that there were no pancakes on her plate.

"... Okay... guess we can go now", I said as I snapped my fingers, teleporting our plates into the sink.

"Spike, you're in charge of the library while we're out, okay?" Twilight asked.

"...", Spike said nothing, he was asleep again... his face was on a pancake.

"I think he got the message", I laughed awkwardly as we walked out of the kitchen.

Walking out the front door, Twilight closed the door and we walked away from the library.

"So, where should we go first?" I asked.

"How about Rarity? We should get her first or else she might get an early order for clothing and won't be able to come with us", Twilight said.

"Good idea, Rarity's place it is then", I said as we walked down the street.

~Fluttershy's Cottage~

I stared at the ceiling of the guest room that I was in. I didn't get a wink of sleep last night, for two reasons. One was that I was in the house of Fluttershy, the mare that I started to feel feelings of love towards when I first saw her. The second was because I was so hungry... I had just realized at that candy looking house that I had left the bag with the energy crystal in it, at the place where I met the real Jeffry and his friends for the first time. My body was keeping me from getting any sleep, I should have absorbed more of the energy before I placed it back into the bag. How was I supposed to keep myself up for more than a week before I started to lose myself with hunger. I couldn't take any energy from ponies, I wanted to live a new life. There must be some other way of getting energy. As long as I don't change my form or use my magic for anything, I should be perfectly fine for maybe a week at most.

Sighing, I looked over at the weird round object on the table next to me. Fluttershy had explained to me that something like this could tell you the time, but it wasn't talking at all. All it does is just spin it's two little hands at these odd figures that I think are called numbers, mother had showed me how to read once, but I never really cared about it much since I was a Changeling and we would barely ever see this to be needed. If I was outside, I could tell what time it was from looking up at the sun. Getting off of the bed I was laying on, I heard a knock on the door, followed by a light voice.

"Chipper, are you awake?" I heard Fluttershy ask as she pushed the door open a little, the front of her pink mane poked out from the doorway.

"Yeah, do you need help with anything?" I asked as I trotted over to the door, my body felt heavy from not having to consume any energy from just a short period of time.

"N-no, but our friends are here, they say that Princess Celestia has asked us all to go back to the castle to speak with her", she said.

"Oh, okay", I said as I opened the door, the pegasus let out a 'eep'.

Following her down the stairs, she was walking very slowly, I saw that Jeffry, Twilight, and Rarity were already here.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"Oh, John has already taken the others to the castle already, Rainbow Dash is already there as well", Jeffry said, looking over the side of the long piece of furniture they called a couch.

"We're the only ones left", Fluttershy said as she trotted over to Twilight's side.

"Now that you two are down here, let's get going", Jeffry said as he raised one of his arms up and snapped his fingers.

We all teleported onto the balcony of Princess Celestia's room, like last time. Walking into her room, we saw that John, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Shining Armor, Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia were inside.

*P.O.V. Change: Jeffry*

"Okay, we're all here. What did you want to say to us?" I asked.

We watched as Princess Celestia's horn glowed as she used her magic to shut the balcony doors and then used her magic to close the curtains. Princess Luna's horn glowed as she used her magic to form a wall where the bedroom doors were.

"Okay, this is obviously important", I said as I walked over to the table where they were around.

"I assume everypony here knows of the ruins of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters", Celestia said.

"We all do, but Chipper, Jeffry, and John don't really know about it", Twilight pointed out.

"Well, it's a castle that my sister and myself used to live in, our mother and father had it built long in ancient times. The castle was abandoned during one of the first wars between Equestria and the Gryphon Kingdom. Our parents had planned to move back, but it was nearly completely destroyed and the Everfree Forest had already grown past the castle, making it unlivable", Princess Celestia explained.

"Okay... what about it?" I asked.

"The ruins are visited by scientist ponies from time to time to see if they can discover anything from the olden times, but always come up empty hoofed... until last night, they found another ruin underneath the ruined castle", she said.

"Cool, a ruin on top of a ruin", John laughed a little.

"This is no laughing matter. The scientist pony that discovered the second ruins had sent out a report of this discover to me before he went in with his fellow scientist partners, they have not reported back yet. They had reported the location of where it was, but the Guards I sent out to check if this was true have discovered that the entrance has disappeared and was now on the other side of the castle", she said.

"Isn't it possible that t hey might have reported the location incorrectly?" I said.

"At first, yes, but now it seems odd. The Guards came back to report this to me, so I sent them back to check if the scientists have returned from the second ruins, only to find that the entrance to the second ruins was where the throne used to be... this reeks of magic", she said.

"Okay, so you want all of us to go in? Wouldn't it be safer for just John and myself to go in on our own? We can handle this on our own", I said.

"No, I would like everypony to be there with you, to make sure you don't lose yourself again", she said, something pinged inside of me.

"Lose myself... again? What do you mean?" I asked.

"The report came with what the scientists saw when they looked into the entrance of the ruins, it had statues of my father and mother inside", she said.

"Okay, how will I lose myself in there?" I said, I started to become confused as to what she was going at with this.

"I went to take a look myself an hour after the second squad of Guards returned, the ruins were indeed filled with magic, your magic", she said.

"What?" I said.

"It isn't only your magic... I felt Discords magic inside as well", she said as she looked away.

"What!?" We all exclaimed, all but Luna.

* * *

**Cliffhangers are so fun :D Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, more will be out soon... or later... or not? Depends if I get lazy, I have work to get to on the weekdays as well, but I'll have more time than I would if I had school as well. So expect somewhat faster updates? :D**

**Please leave a Review!**

**Second Jeffry: Hey, wasn't I supposed to be in this chapter?**

**Me: Shut up D: Just wait for your turn!**


	14. Chapter 14: Into the Ruins

"So... you're saying that that bastard, Discord is still alive?" John said, placing his hands on the edge of the table.

"He might, or he might not. All I felt at the ruins was Jeffry's and Discord's magic from within it, I can't be certain if he is alive or not. Jeffry was revived from a large concentration of magic he left behind, who knows what Discord did back then when he disappeared with Jeffry's body. For all we know he might have created similar objects to what Jeffry has made in the past", Celestia said.

Beads of sweat began to form on my forehead as I balled up my fist and covered my mouth with it. Discord being alive would mean that he might try something again.

"So what do we do?" I asked, looking at the Princess.

"My first plan was to go into the ruins to see if anything of the likes was true, and rescue the missing scientists", Celestia said.

"Okay. John, get ready, we're going to the ruins", I said as I snapped my fingers, forming my swords at my waist and my bow slung over my shoulder.

"No", I heard a voice say... my voice.

I felt a hand rest of my shoulder, everyone turned to look at me and all gasped, John unsheathed his sword and held onto it with both hands. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that it was the other me, the one I kept seeing inside of my head. He had a similar pair of weapons that I had, but he was wearing a full suit of black armor that matched his dull gray skin and... red eyes? The armor he wore was the exact same kind of armor that I first made for myself when I first tried to make something like that.

"You... so, what do you want?" I asked as I shrugged his hand off of my shoulder.

"First of all, to avoid confusion, just call me Shadow. Like I said to Jeffry last night, I would come here to speak with all of you... especially you two, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna", Shadow said as he walked past me and towards the Princess.

He was stopped as John swung in front of Shadow, his sword struck down on the table, forming a large crack down the middle of the table. Shadow slowly turned to look at John, who was glaring at him as sweat was also beading down from his forehead.

"How do we know you won't do anything?" He asked, good question.

"I'm Jeffry's other half... his dark side, to be exact. But don't worry, I'm not evil or anything, I'm just filled with the dark magic that was released when Discord was killed", he said.

"... Fine, but do anything fishy and you're dead", John said as he continued to glare at Shadow.

"Wouldn't matter anyways, I'm not even a physical being", he said as he walked straight through John's sword.

We all gasped as Shadows body broke off into smoke as he walked through John's sword and then recollected himself and formed his body again. Stopping in front of Princess Celestia, John and I kept our swords at the ready in case he was lying. Shining Armor and Rainbow Dash were also ready to take action. Even I don't know what his real intentions are, he never showed that we wanted to help or hurt all of us. Even when we were both together in my mind, I could never understand him completely.

"Is there something you wished to speak to me about?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, I went into the ruins last night... for the second time", he said.

"A second time? You've been inside the ruins before?" I asked.

"Yes, but it was only because of the fact that I needed to bring the skeleton's body to somewhere that it could rebuild itself, somewhere that was filled with dark magic. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, the place of which I speak of is the place of your parents", he said.

"T-thou has found our parents?" Luna stuttered.

"That's impossible, mother and father disappeared as normal for the cycles of Alicorns, Alicorns would leave their children when the eldest amongst the children is of age", Celestia said.

"Yes, I'm not going to say anymore, I've said too much already. The rest you'll learn for yourselves when you're inside of the ruins. Luna, say thanks to your mother for fixing me up, her dark magic was quite impressive", Shadow smiled to the Princess.

"We shall...", Luna said.

"And Jeffry, want your armor back?" He asked as he turned around.

"Wait, I couldn't bring out my armor because you were using it the whole time?" I asked.

"Yeah, sorry. Once I give you back your armor, I'll become one with you again... you'll never be able to see me again after that", he said as he reached up with his hand and touched his pointer finger on my forehead.

"Wait!" I exclaimed as his entire body turned black and was absorbed by my body.

The sound of loud clanking could be heard as my armor no longer had a wearer and had fallen down onto the floor, piling up into a disordered mess. Everyone just stared at me at the sudden events.

"Jeff, that was also you?" John asked.

"Yeah, but it's a long story...", I said as I started to feel stronger as my magic began to grow more and more.

Just how much magic did he take from me when Discord died? I sighed as I snapped my fingers, teleporting my armor onto myself, I was surprised to feel that the armor barely felt as if it was putting any hindrance on my body, it felt as if it was nothing but a suit of armor made of thin paper.

"So... what do we do now?" John asked, scratching the top of his head.

"You and I go in alone, we'll go in and get those scientists out and then kill Discord if he's really alive", I said as I clenched my fist.

"No, we're all coming with you", Celestia said.

"That's too much of a problem, what if you all get hurt?" I asked.

"That ain't no problem for all of us, yer our friend and we're not gonna let some crazy God of Chaos take you away from us again", Applejack grinned as she rested her elbow on the table.

"She's absolutely correct, deary. We're your friends and we're not going to sit around and just watch as you get taken over by that lunatic", Rarity said as she fluffed the curl of her mane.

"I won't get taken over, please, just stay here. I don't want to risk your safety", I said.

"Jeff, shut up and accept the fact that we're all coming with you. If he's in there, we're not going to let him have an ounce of chance in taking over your body again", John smiled as he rested his sword on his shoulder.

They all chattered in agreement, all saying the same things. A tear formed in my eye.

"You guys... fine, we'll do this together", I smiled back at them as I wiped the tear away.

They all exclaimed as they all started to get riled up, all but Fluttershy. But her safety wasn't of any concern to me, it seems that Chipper would have that covered, seeing as he's so close to her. I would still keep an eye on them, just in case of any sudden complications arise in the ruins or on the trip to the ruins. We all teleported back to Ponyville to ready some supplies that we would need on the trip in and out of the ruins, and a little more for the scientists when we found them. The girls and Shining Armor all wore saddlebags at their waists, all filled with the needed equipment and supplies that would prove useful on a trip into such a dangerous place. Chipper was kind enough to carry Fluttershy's bag for her. The Princesses carried light bags, a little smaller than the ones that the others were wearing on themselves. Once we were ready, we went on our way into the Everfree Forest.

Everypony that was roaming the streets turned to look at us, all wondering why the Caption of the Royal Guard, their Princesses, and their two War Generals were all doing in one place. Sure it's normal for us to be all in one place, but not in a place like Ponyville. The ponies of this town would surely figure out that something is wrong, or something it needed for all us of high power to go about doing something personal, instead of having others do it for us. Entering the forest, we were greeted by several skeleton ponies. They didn't seem to attack, but walked in front of us and headed down the path towards the ruins.

"Celestia, where are the ruins anyways?" I asked.

"It should be a few minutes walk through the forest, the entire castle had been moved up from unknown events that occurred with the earth, the Everfree Forest has no limiters when it comes to changeling itself", Princess Celestia said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Princess Celestia whispered something to her sister, who in turn nodded and trotted up to the front of the group, Celestia then slowly down her trotting and was now by my side.

"The Everfree Forest is different from the outside world, where the ponies of Equestria maintain most of the world. Weather is controlled by the pegasi, unicorns were originally joined together in magical power to bring about the days and nights, until my sister and I were born several thousands of years ago, the earth ponies grew the food. In the Everfree Forest, everything seems to be controlled by its own will, changeling, growing, at its own pace", she said.

"... You did say thousands of years ago, right?" I asked, my eye twitched.

"Yes, is there something wrong with what I said?" She asked, turning to look at me.

"How old are you two?" I asked.

"... My... I seem to have forgotten, my sister and I have never celebrated our birthdays, so we sort of forgotten how old we are, keeping track after several thousands of years is rather difficult", she said as she giggled lightly.

"Forgetting your own age... impressive", I laughed awkwardly.

We all stopped as we saw a wall of grayness, something was in front of us. I moved through the group and towards whatever the thing was, I watched as the gray veil let out light sparks to its surroundings. Hitting bushes, trees, and the grass. The things that were being touched by the gray sparks started to shrivel up and die out. Leaves came falling from trees as the trunks and branches of the trees began to shrink up and disappear completely.

"This isn't good, sister. Discord and Jeffry's magic have started to push out of the ruins. Was this the becoming of the actions of the scientist ponies, sister?" Luna asked.

"It would appear so. The ruins must have been keeping the magic inside", Celestia said as she trotted to her sisters side.

"Celestia, how did my magic and _his_ magic get in there anyways?" I asked, refusing to say his name anymore.

"I do not know, but his magic is radiating a stronger force than yours is from within the ruins", she said.

"... Is his magic stronger than mines?" I asked.

"Your magic out here is the same as his from within the ruins", she said, stepping back as a spark shot straight past her.

"Then he's alive... right?" I asked, unsheathing my sword.

"Your level of magic is the same and you're alive... it is possible that he is", she said.

"If he is alive, why doesn't he come out?" I asked, raising my sword as a spark shot at my sword, the veil shrunk back.

"Did you see that?" I asked.

"Yes, the magic veil shrunk when it touched your sword with a small bit of its feedback, maybe you can absorb it?" She asked.

"I might, but don't you think it's a bit... much?" I asked as I looked up.

The veil was like a dome. A little inside of the veil, I could see a old bridge that was just a little further up ahead, where the trees finally cleared up.

"What if I gave it a try?" John said as his swords glowed white as they melted down onto his hands and molded themselves into gauntlets.

"I can handle this, I just need to get rid of a lot of my magic to make room for the magic I'll be regaining from the veil", I said.

"And how are you going to do th-", he stopped as I charged up my magic.

They all backed away as my magic began to pour out of myself, the force was strong enough to shake several surrounding trees and topple over several dying trees. My skin started to turn a pitch black color as scales began to draw themselves on my arms as they started to grow thicker and thicker. Claws began to grow out of the tips of my fingers. I exhaled greatly as I finished with the transformation, it indeed drained a lot out of me.

"Jeff, are you okay? This better not be Discord", John asked as he readied himself to fight me.

"Don't worry, I'm just copying what Discord did", I said as I walked past him, my arm clinked against his armor.

"So.. Celestia, do I just absorb this magic?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder at the Princess, who was still stunned at my use of magic.

"Y-yes", she stuttered.

Turning back to the veil of magic, I roared as I drove my arms into the veil. Sparks covered my hands and then started to flow through my body, it felt as if I was taking a bath in a pool of boiling water. As the veil shrunk, it went back in the direction in front of us. I continued to drain the magic from the veil as a stream of black lighting connected my hands to the veil as it shrunk down in size. Finally, the connection broke off as the veil was now out of range and had shrunken down to a safe size where we could reach the said castle. I dropped to my knees, breathing heavily from the absorption.

"You okay", Twilight asked as she quickly trotted over to me.

"Yeah... that burned a lot", I exhaled sharply as I flexed my claw like hands.

"Indeed it did, look around yourself", Celestia said as she walked past me, towards the clearing up ahead.

Looking up, I saw that the plant life around us was now completely black from either being charred from the electricity or from being struck by sparks from before.

"So, can we get to the castle now?" I asked.

"Yes, but the bridge up ahead is no longer usable, the veil burned the ropes of the bridge too much. Even if Spike was to walk on it, it would surely collapse under even his weight", Celestia said as she turned back to us.

"Then we'll go over it", I sighed as I pushed myself up.

We all walked towards the bridge, and saw that it was indeed burnt. The ropes and the wooden planks were completely black. I watched as a rabbit run past my legs and straight onto the bridge, we watched as the bridge collapsed and fell down into the misty pit.

"Okay...", John said as he looked into the pit.

"So we go over this thing, right?" Shining Armor asked.

"Yeah, come on", I said as I teleported myself across, but was forced back.

"Okay... guess we can't teleport over, weird", I said as I tried to use my magic.

"I can still use my magic, but why can't I teleport over?" I asked Twilight.

"I don't know, maybe it's some sort of problem with your magic when you absorbed the veil?" Twilight shrugged.

"Let me try", John said as he clapped his hands together.

"John, don't d-", John suddenly flew backwards and crashed into several withered out trees.

"Well that hurt", John said as he pushed himself up.

"Guess we'll have to fly over", Rainbow Dash said as she spread her wings out.

"Yeah, 'bout that sugarcube, not all of us have wings ya' know", Applejack said.

"The ones with wings will help those who don't have any", I said as I walked closer to Twilight and used my left arm to position her with her fore legs over my shoulder.

John did the same with Applejack, Rainbow Dash was going to help Rarity over, while as I also offered to help Shining over the pit as well, was a bit awkward to hold him. The Princesses would go over on their own, the only ones left was Chipper, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

"Uh, Jeff. How are they going to get over?" John asked.

"Well, Flutterrshy and Chipper can fly right? Pinkie Pie will hav-",

"No problem Jeffy, I can get across with this!" She exclaimed as she pulled out a weird looking cannon out of no where.

"What are you going to do with that?" I asked as we watched as the hyperactive pink mare slide into the cannon.

"Pinkie, what are you do *Boom*-ing...", I said as she went flying out of the cannon and over the pit and landed in a burnt tree, the dead leaves cushioned her fall.

"... Why do I bother asking anymore", I said.

"Fluttershy, are you able to fly?" I heard Chipper ask the shy pegasus.

"N-no, t-the p-pits really wide... and scary", Fluttershy whimpered.

This gave me an idea.

"Hey Chipper, why don't you carry her over?" I asked.

"What?" Chipper and Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Come on, I don't see a problem with it. We can't just leave you behind", John smirked, finally catching up.

Fluttershy and Chipper looked at each other, their faces were red from their blushing. Awkwardly, Fluttershy climbed onto Chippers back and wrapped her fore legs around his neck and tried to keep herself from getting in the way of his insect like wings. He seemed to be struggling with standing with her on his back, maybe she was too heavy for him.

"Jeff, we can't form our wings", John said.

"Heh, who needs wings when you can just do this", I said as I ran towards the edge of the pit and leaped.

Twilight wrapped her fore legs around my neck tighter as we soared through the air, but we didn't each the land. Instead, I unsheathed my sword with my free hand and drove it into the dirt cliff side. Climbing the rest of the way up, I heard a loud thud behind me. It was John, he managed to leap the entire length of the pit. The others fly over, Chipper was sort of lagging behind.

"You guys go ahead and look for the entrance of the ruins, I'll stay here and wait for mister slowpoke", I said.  
"Right, don't take too long... keep your guard up", Shining Armor said before he left with the others to look inside the castle.

Chipper finally reached where Twilight and I stood, he touched down and dropped down on one of his fore legs. Fluttershy climbed off of his back, Chipper then fell on his side.

"Jeez, was she that heavy?" I asked.

"No... just really tired is all, didn't get to eat much", Chipper said.

"Didn't you bring that energy crystal of yours?" I asked.

*P.O.V. Change: Chipper*

"Well. I-",

"Jeffry! We've found the entrance, hurry up!" John exclaimed from the front of the ruined castle.

"Okay! We're on our way!" Jeffry shouted back to him.

'_The others still don't know I don't have any food..._', I sighed as I followed them up the path to the castle.

Reaching the others, who were already inside of the ruins. There were weird looking pieces of equipment everywhere, probably things the scientist ponies were using. Princess Luna and John were standing in front of a giant hole in the wall, inside of the hole were weird looking shining particles. John raised his hand and blocked a black spark that was shot out of the hole, his hand gave off a light spark but soon faded.

"We'll have to go in quickly, and then seal the entrance behind us", Celestia said.

"Okay, let's see if this bastards alive or not. I want some payback", Jeffry said as clenched and unclenched his monstrous hands.

One by one, they all went in. Twilight and Celestia were going to go in last so they could seal up the entrance after we all went into the second ruins. I walked up to the entrance with Fluttershy by my side, she stepped in first. I felt a slight pain in my side and lowered myself a little, but quickly regained my posture to make sure the two didn't see that I was having problems. Twilight didn't seem to notice, but Princess Celestia gave me an odd look, but brushed it aside. Stepping into the magic filled ruins, I felt as if my body was being poked with tiny needles. Opening my eyes, I saw that we were in a small stone corridor. Bricks covered in moss and light plant life made up the walls, floor, and the ceiling. I heard the entrance disappear behind me as the two mares came out of it before they sealed it from the outside.

"Now, let's get moving", John said as he formed a weird looking "L" shaped object and slide it into a slot on his armor on his leg.

My body felt weaker, but I tried to hide it. Celestia was looking at me as I breathed out heavily, but walked past me. This was going to be a rough trip.

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**Chapter 14 :D I wonder if this fanfic will end before the time it hits 20 chapters or 30, hopefully it reaches 30 :3**

**Please leave a Review!**


	15. Chapter 15: Hallways

The sounds of John and my feet, the others hooves walking on the stone brick floor could be heard as we ventured deeper into the ruins. Nothing was in sight, but John kept his swords at the ready, I still had my arms in the state that I had left them in when I absorbed the veil. After walking deeper into the ruins for a minute or so, the walls of the hallway had some sort of stone carvings and strange letters carved into it. I would walk by the wall and brush my claws against the vines to clear them off of the wall so I could see better. I froze as I saw a carved figure of Princess Celestia, or what looked like her.

"Hey, what do you think these are?" I asked as I turned to the others, motioning to the wall.

"We do not know anything of these carvings, for this ruins was never discovered before last night", Luna said as she trotted towards me.

"But these carvings look like you, Celestia... and you Luna, you're over here", I said as I pointed to another carving that was about a foot to the right.

The others came over as well to look at the carvings. The one of Celestia looked as if she was only a foal, a taller pony stood by her side, one of her parents perhaps? Luna's carving looked as if she was a foal as well, but was slightly smaller than Celestia was in her carving. Luna also had a pony by her side, Luna seemed to be lying down beneath the other pony. The others pony stood over Luna, its head turned to the side, as if it was watching over Luna.

"Luna... do you think our parents are really here?" Celestia said as she placed her hoof on the wall, not looking from her carving.

"We do not know, sister. Jef-, Shadow, said that he has met our mother and was treated by her dark magic", Luna said as she looked at her own carving.

"... If you don't mind me asking, what are you parents like?" I asked as I brushed away some vines.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna looked at one another and then at me, Celestia smiled faintly.

"Our mother never mentioned much about our father, but he had fallen shortly after the war had ended, his wounds were too much for his old body to handle. My mother disappeared, according to the Alicorns cycle", Celestia said.

"Mother was a brillant mind when it came to dark magic, she would best anypony in fields of magic", Luna smiled as she turned to the carving and touched the pony that was standing above her, most likely her mother.

"What was your father like?" John asked.

"Father was a careless fool, loved to have fun with everypony. He enjoyed helping others, always happy... even to the end. He died with a smile on his face", Celestia laughed a little, shaking her head as she closed her eyes.

"Mother was the type of pony who could make anypony obey her orders, even without the use of her status or power, but her own born power as a being", Luna said.

"Wow, your parents were pretty powerful and... different from everypony, but what are these?" I asked as I tore off a few more vines from the wall.

Princess Celestia leaned over and looked closer and what I had revealed from beneath the vines. The Princess cocked her head to the side as she looked at the four strange figures. One was a long winding snake, the second was something that seemed to be a golom, the third looked like a pony with no face and its body looked as if it were a sparkly mist. The final figure was a Alicorn with its wings spread out with, the three creatures lying down at its hooves, all dead from the looks of it. Luna popped out beside me and looked on at the figures as well.

"Does thou have any idea of what these strange creatures might be?" Luna asked as she pointed at the final picture.

"Snake, golom, ghost, and a Alicorn... from what I'm guessing", Shining said as he looked over my shoulder.

"Well, we can figure it out later. We've got a God to kill", John said as he sliced the sides of his blades together, creating a slight screeching sound of metal.

"And scientists to rescue", I said as I turned away from the wall and walked back down the dimly lit hallway.

The hallway was currently being lit by the unicorns and Alicorn's amongst our group, but they couldn't keep the light any brighter than it was not since the ruins seemed to be sapping their magic. John and I were somewhat fine with this since our magic was in greater amounts than what they had, and we wanted to save our magic in case we had to fight Discord... if the bastard was a live that is. All walking down the hallway, all we could hear was the sounds of our walking, water dripping from small cracks on the ceiling, and... panting? I had taken a rear position of the group again and looked over at Chipper and Fluttershy, the two were very close together, as Fluttershy was shaking slightly but seemed fine when she held onto Chipper. Chipper on the other hand, seemed to be very tired, what was he going to say before John called out for us to get to the castle?

Might not have been important, what';s important is to find the scientist ponies and confirm if Discord is truly alive. If he is, then John and I will kill him. What puzzled me was the strange creatures that were carved into the wall, because as we walked down the hallway, more and more of the same thing kept reappearing. The images repeated over and over, until we reached a circular room with three hallways that branched out from this room. At the center of this room, were two statues of two ponies, both Alicorn's. From the corner of my eye, I saw Princess Celestia and her sister slowly step forward, their mouths dropped open as they looked upon the statues.

"Are they your parents?" I asked.

"N-no, they are not... they are our mothers parents", Luna said.

"Well, that explains the dark jeweled boarders on their bodies, your mother uses dark magic, right? Guess it sort of fits", I said as I walked towards the path to the far right.

"Hey, the top of the entry way has the snake on it", I said as I looked up at the boarder of the entry way.

"And this has that golom looking thing", John shouted from the other side of the room.

"Then the middle one should be that ghost figure, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it looks like something tried to claw it out, the head of the symbol's gone", Rainbow Dash called out as she flew in front of the boarder.

"Which one do you think we should go in?" I asked as I turned my back to the entry way.

"Should we split up?" Twilight asked as she trotted towards me.

"Nah, if Discords in here. It's best to stay in a group", John said.

Suddenly, the room started to become filled with light blue mist that sparkled in the faint light that came from the light that was produced by the girls magic. The mist started to swirl around in the room and then gather up in the center of the room. John drew his sword and used his other arm to move Applejack behind him, I readied myself as well, to fight anything that might appear from this strange mist. Suddenly, I saw something approaching John from behind with blinding speed, it looked like a giant hand with three stone like fingers.

"John, look out!" I shouted as I reached out to him.

John turned around, but was too slow to react. Applejack and John were grabbed by the giant hand and pulled into the shadows of the entry way. Using my magic, I fired a flaming sphere with my magic at the hand, but was too late. Several stone doors dropped down from further down in the hallway and came towards us and finally stopped as no more doors could be dropped, my attack just struck the wall, not even cracking it. The girls suddenly exclaimed as the mist had finally gathered and formed a figure, it looked like the ghost figure from the images in the hall we came through. Turning to the girls who were in front of the hallway in the middle part of the room, it's blank face seemed to grow a pair of eyes that glowed a light blue. The others were pushed into the hallway by the ghostly figure, the hallway sealed itself, just as the one John was pulled into did. Chipper had changed his hoof into a claw like limb and dug into the ground as he held onto Fluttershy.

The ghostly figure looked down at the two, and then turned to the statue and its eyes glowed a final time before it disappeared, the statue started to crumble. Turning back into the light blue mist, it flew straight at the wall that had formed where the others had been thrown into, it seeped into the wall like water in a cracked wash bin. Before I could rush over to their aid, I saw three green scaled lengths wrap around Twilight and pulled her in.

"Jeffry!" Twilight screamed as she was pulled into the darkness.

"Twilight!" I shouted into the shadows as I blindly charged into the hallway, only to be knocked backward as another scaled length swiped at my feet, tripping me backwards.

My head struck the ground hard, causing my head to look 'upwards'. The last thing I saw was that the rubble from the statue hand turned into another stone arm and grabbed the two of them and retreated down a hole that seemed to have been underneath the statue. I felt a sudden force as I was pulled into the hallway as the entry way was blocked off like all the others.

~Where John and Applejack Are~

Letting a loud grunt, I pulled one of my arms from the stone hands grip and formed my spiked glove on my hand and gave the stone hand a single powerful strike, shattering the stone. Removing my other hand, I brought my hands together and brought them both down at the same time, on top of the stone. The stone shattered some more, once the stones were loose around Applejack, I wrapped my arms around her and yanked her out. Chunks of the stone hand came with us as we both rolled across the stone brick floor. The stone hand continued to retreat further into the hallway, leaving the two of us behind.

"Applejack, are you okay?" I asked, panting as I pushed myself up.

"Y-yeah, Ah'm fine. Where are the others?" Applejack asked as she rubbed her legs.

The stone hand had left imprints on her legs, the force it used to grip us had matted her fur against her legs. My armor was slightly crushed, pieces of it dug into my skin. Grunting, I clapped my hands together and split the sides of my armor. I couldn't repair my armor, it would use too much of my magic and leave me with nothing to use against Discord, if we had to fight him.

"I don't know, maybe they're back in the room we were in. Let's go back", I said as I took a deep breath in and pushed myself up completely, my armor falling off.

"Won't ya' need yer armor fer tha fight?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, but I can't waste any magic on repairing it, I'll have to go as I am", I said as I manually removed the rest of the tiny bits of armor.

As I helped Applejack up, leaped back with Applejack in my arms as a wall of stone fell from the ceiling and formed a wall, blocking the way back. Setting Applejack down, I swung my fist at the wall, only to have my spiked glove to break at the front.

"Okay... guess we've got to find another way to the others", I said as I shook my hand, bits of my glove flew off.

"Ya' think it's safe to go down this hallway? That stone like arm's still down there", Applejack asked as she limped to my side.

"We don't have any other choice. We need to get back to the others, every second we waste here is a chance for Jeffry to get taken over again", I said as I shook off the last of my ruined weapon and helped Applejack by holding onto her side.

"Come on, let's see if there are any safer ways to get around up ahead", I said as we moved forward, Applejack limped as we walked forward.

'_Seriously, how big is this fucking ruin? Isn't this thing supposed to be on an isolated and raised hilltop?_' I thought as I used my other hand to guide our way in the tunnel.

Now that our light source was gone, the only light we had was these weird buds that were scattered here and there on the vines that hung on the ceiling and walls.

~Middle Hall~

*P.O.V. Shining Armor*

"Ugh... are you girls okay?" I asked as I shook my head.

They all let out a groan, signaling that they're somewhat okay. Standing up, I looked around and saw that we were in another room that had several hallways that looked as if they could fit only one pony at a time. As I looked around the room, I noticed that some of us were missing. John and Applejack were pulled into another hallway, but Jeffry, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Chipper weren't with us, maybe they were in the other room? Looking up, I saw nothing but darkness, but that soon changed as a ring of fire lit around the rim of a dome like indent at the top of the room. The fire revealed the entire room below and the images within the dome. Inside the dome were paintings or drawings of some sort, clouds, the Sun, the Moon were on either sides of the dome. An Alicorn was at either sides of the dome, one near the Sun and the other was near the Moon, both of their wings were spread out. The two Alicorns weren't Princess Celestia and Luna, one of them was a stallion.

The two must be their parents, since they look nothing like the previous statues we saw in the other room we were in. The mare of the two Alicorn's had a dark blue coat with a similar mane as Luna, the stallion had similar features to Celestia, their father perhaps? Looking around the room as it was now lit up, I saw that there were some sort of characters at the top of each of the single file hallways. Walking over to one of the only two tall hallways, I gasped.

"Princess Celestia... why is your name here?" I asked as I turned my head to look at the Princess, who was helping her sister up.

"What?" She said as she walked over towards me with her sister, only to gasp as well.

"Sister, our name is name is here as well", Luna said as she pointed up at the other hallway.

"So is mine", Rainbow Dash called out from the right side of the room, hovering with her wings in front of one of the smaller hallwars.

The others all began to call out their hallways as they were all standing at their named hallways, mine was to the left of Luna's.

"What do you think this is?" I asked the Princess.

"I do not know, perhaps we're to go into our 'assigned' halls?" Princess Celestia said.

"Wouldn't it be smart to go in as a group?" I asked.

"Yeah, about that...", Rainbow Dash said as she flew over to us.

"About what?" I asked, turning to look at the Wonderbolt.

She said nothing as she pointed behind herself, at a pink mare who was besides Rarity. Pinkie Pie was trying to enter the hallway, but was stopped by an invisible wall. Trotting over to the mare, I looked up and saw that it was Rarity's hallway.

"I think we can only go in the ones that have our name on it", Rainbow Dash said as she flew back to where her hallway was.

"I guess so... but what could be in these?" I asked as I trotted back to my own hall and looked inside and saw nothing but pitch black emptiness.

A cold chill suddenly went down my spine. Turning around, I saw the same figure that appeared in the previous room. A toothy grin spread across its once black face, light blue eyes appeared on its face and glowed brighter as one by one we were pushed into the halls. I exclaimed as I was thrown into the hall. The last thing I saw was that sly smile of the ghostly figure as the hallway became sealed as something fell from the top of the entry way and close down.

~Where Jeffry and Twilight Are~

"Run Twilight, run!" I shouted as Twilight and I charged down the dimly lit hallway.

Looking behind us, several green scaled arms slashed at the air as their owners came slithering after us.

"Since when did snakes have arms?!" I shouted as we made a sharp turn to the right.

"I don't know! I've never seen snakes that big before either!" She cried out.

Roaring, I leaped up and swung my claws at the ceiling and drew several lines on the ceiling as I flew down the hall. The ceiling cracked and then caved in behind us, crushing and blocking the serpents as they snaked directly beneath the falling boulders. A light appeared at the front of us.

"A room!" I cheered as I heard the boulders behind us burst into pieces as the snakes broke through and continued towards us.

"Go go go!" I shouted as I wrapped my arm around Twilight's midsection and lifted her up and ran as fast as I could.

"Oh crap!" I hissed as a door slowly slid from the top of the exit.

Getting closer to the room, I leaped at the wall and ran along the side of the hall and kicked up to the top of the exit and gripped the bottom of the stone door and pulled down, bringing the door down. Skidding to a stop, I placed her down and turned around, ready to fight the serpents. I expected the stone door to break as they rammed it, but only heard loud thuds as they crashed into the wall.

"Okay, boulders verses a thin stone door... makes complete sense", I laughed as I slouched forward, dangling my black scaly arms.

"Do you think we're safe?" Twilight asked as she brushed the legs off of her legs.

"Should be, but what's with this room?" I asked as I fell backwards and landed on the grassy floor, yes, grassy floor.

This entire room looked like a spring of some sort. Stones were piled up at the rear of the room as water poured out from the top like a fountain, grass surrounded the pond. Some ruins this place is.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Twilight asked as she lowered herself onto the grass, beside me.

"Yeah, but I don't think Fluttershy and Chipper will be okay. Fluttershy can't fight from the looks of it and Chipper doesn't seem to be in fighting order", I said as I looked 'up' at the spring.

As I looked at the spring, I saw a green mound zip across the water and back into the water.

"...Ah shit", I grumbled as I reached for my waist.

~Down the Hole in the Circular Room~

I moaned as I slowly opened my eyes. It was so dark here, but I could feel something. My hooves were touching the stone floor, but my belly was touching something rather elastic, smooth, and... warm. Reaching down with my hoof, I felt something.

"Chipper?" I whispered as I felt something pointy, Chipper's horn.

"Chipper?" I asked again, poking at Chipper.

Moving off of him, I peered down and saw that his eyes were closed. He was breathing, but I couldn't tell if he was awake or not.

"Chipper? Are you okay?" I whispered as I nudged him with my hoof.

"Please... wake up", I whispered as I placed my hoof on his shoulder.

Suddenly, his eyes shot open, they were glowing a menacing green. He stood up quickly, knocking me over onto my back. I 'eeped' as I felt his fore hooves pin my fore hooves on the ground as he snarled at me. His breathing was rapid, his face was slightly visible from the glow from his eyes.

"C-chip-per?" I whimpered as he lowered his face towards mine as he continued to snarl.

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**CLIFF-HANGERS AHAHAHAHHAHAAHHA. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, ready yourselves for the next one :D Cause nothing eventful is going to happen xD... or something eventful will, I don't know.**

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	16. Chapter 16: Battle

I watched as Chipper brought his face closer and closer to mine, I could feel his hot breathe blow onto my face as he snarled. I turned my head away and closed my eyes and waited for what he might do, but I heard a like snort as Chipper groaned as he moved his face away. Turning my head back to Chipper I saw nothing, his eyes had stopped glowing, but I felt drops of water... no, tears drip onto my face. I heard light sobs coming from above me, was Chipper... crying? The weight on my hooves suddenly disappeared as Chipper removed himself from me. The sound of rapid galloping came out of nowhere, but slowly softened as whatever or whoever gained distance between us.

"Chipper?... Are you there?" I whispered as I reached out into the darkness, trying to see if I could feel him.

My effort resulted in me just pawing at the air, feeling nothing but the slightly warm yet skin crawling cold air on my hooves. Reaching up to my face, I touched my cheeks and felt a liquid spread across as my hoof pressed the droplets down.

'_Was Chipper crying? But why would be cry? Why would he do that to me? Chipper seemed like a nice fellow... I wonder if he's okay..._', I wondered as I thought only of his well being, and nothing of my own. Just me being Fluttershy.

I got onto my hooves and felt around for the wall. Finally feeling the wall as my hoof brushed stone. I used the wall as a guide as I moved down the hall, not knowing which way would be best to go down.

"Chipper... are you still here?" I whispered as I continued to slowly make my way down the hall.

"Chipper...", I whispered again as I felt my heart drop a little.

'_What if he hates me... is that why he did that to me? I don't want anypony to hate me... especially Chipper... I actually... like him_', I thought to myself as I felt my cheeks burn up from my mental confession to myself.

I continued to call out for Chipper, in hopes that he would hear my voice and come back to me. Little did I know, my calls for Chipper to come back was giving away my location to a certain creature in the darkness. My hearing wasn't all that good at the moment, I might have hit my head a little when we were pulled into the hole by that weird arm thing that was made of stone. With my current level of hearing and my calls for Chipper, kept me from hearing the scarping of stone coming from the other direction of the hall way as something dragged it's feet across the stone surface.

~Wherever the Hell John and Applejack Are~

Applejack and I walked alongside one another as I kept my hand up in the air to keep our path lit up. Fires had appeared alongside the wall a while ago, but stopped as we went further and further into the ruins. We made several descends down stairs and up stairs, left and right, pretty much losing all sense of direction as to how we'll get back to the others. Applejack still had a slight limp in her step, but was getting better and better as time went on, her injury was only minor, but still hindered her walking speed. Hopefully her injury would get better before anything big came up in these hallways that never seemed to ever end. Suddenly, my feet dropped a little as the floor lead to a sudden drop of an inch or two, Applejack exclaimed a little as she also dropped forward a little. Walking forward a little, we heard the sound of a stone door drop down and block off the hallway we were just in. The hallway, which we though it was one, turned out to be a giant circular room as torches along the walls suddenly lit up, revealing what was in the room.

Applejack and I gasped at what we saw in the center of the room. The center of the room was several levels below us. A giant stone golom like statue rested at the center of the area below us. We stood on a staircase that led both right and left, both heading down to reach the area below us. Below us was a field of grass, vines hung from the ceiling, this place even had a flowing river of some sort.

"Applejack... does this place even make sense to you anymore?" I asked as I scratched my head as I looked at the towering statue that was almost eye level to me, almost touching the ceiling as well.

"John, this place makes Pinkie Pie look as if she were normal", Applejack said as she looked at the giant golom statue as well.

"Think we should get down there?" I askedher.

"Yeah, why not. Not like we can go back down this here hallway again", Applejack pointed out.

"Yeah, guess you're right", I said as I walked down the left staircase, Applejack followed behind me.

While walking down the stairs, I noticed that at each new post for the smooth stone railing, I saw that there were symbols of the exact same symbol for the golom in the hallway we all walked down. They looked exactly like the giant one here, something told me that this thing wasn't just here for show, nor was it made by something normal. The bottom of the stairs had some sort of platform with a slightly larger symbol of the statue on it, it bulged up a little. Thinking that it was more of this places weird decoration, I stepped on it as I reached the very bottom of the staircase. Loud rumbling came from behind us as the stairs suddenly began to slide underneath the step above it and pull into the staircase itself. In less than a few seconds, the two staircases were now nothing but a retracted stairs in a stone coloum.

The rumbling continued as tiny bits of stone and dust rained from the ceiling. I pulled Applejack close to me as I formed a small shield to keep us from being hit from any speeding, sharp stones. The rumbling grew louder as chunks of dirt fell from the giant golom satue.

"Aw shit on a stick...", I swore as I watched the golom statue begin to move.

The legs of the giant golom started to crack as they started to move. Finally, the statue gave off a loud bellow as several arms began to break off from all of the underside of the giant torso.

"Okay, that's gross", I said as I looked up, disarming my shield.

A round head at the top roared as the statue came to life, flailing around it's several smaller arms, and it's two very large arms. The statue started to lift its feet and walk towards me, it's giant lumpy shoulders were scraping against the ceiling.

"This isn't going to be fun at all...", I groaned as I melted my swords down into spiked gloves.

~Middle Hallway~

*P.O.V. Rarity*

"I really hope the others will be okay", I mumbled to myself as I stood alone in a small room that my hallway had led to.

I wasn't able to go anywhere, since the hallway I had entered the room from had been sealed off on its own and there weren't any other halls to go into. The room was dome like and had a table in the center, with fabric and a old sewing machine on it, rather odd to find such things in such a horrid place like this. Seeing as I had nothing else to do, I thought it would be nice to make some clothing for fun. Maybe John or Jeffry will find a way out of their situations and come help me. As I worked on something simple, a faint blue mist rose from beneath the table.

"Oh my", I said as I slowly stepped back from the table.

I watched as the mist gathered and formed an exact copy of myself, but the colors of my mane, tail, and coat was a dull gray.

"Oh my, your coat looks rather dull, does it not?" I said to the other me.

"Yes, dull like your creations", she said as she looked at the clothing I was making for fun, while I waited.

"I beg pardon?" I gawked at her, my mouth dropped open.

"Is there any purpose in making clothing? Ponies don't need to wear anything, our coats keep us warm for the most part. Clothing serve no real purpose to us, they just hinder us of our basic body movements, such a waste of time and effort", she said as she kicked at one of the table legs, snapping it off and moved around the table.

"I assure you that my clothing indeed serve a purpo",

"Purpose? They get in the way, they cover the body of it's natural raw beauty, your creations do nothing but cover up what is meant to be seen", she spat out.

"... My creations are meant to make everypony look beautiful... my work... hiding away beautfy? No...", I whispered to myself.

Tears flowed from my face as the end of my tail started to sparkle as grayness spread up and all over my body. How could I have been so blind? To spend my entire life with something like clothing making and designing, what a pointless skill indeed, what a pointless life. I sank down at the thoughts of my lives _work. _I didn't notice, but the other me was walking away from the now ruined table, a evil smile on its face as it walked into the wall, disappearing.

~Rainbow Dash's Room~

"Shut up!" I shouted at the grayish me as she circled around me.

"Oh come on, don't keep your failures away, you know you're worthless...", she said as she flicked her gray tail across my nose.

"You would have never made it as a Wonderbolt without your friends help. You should be hating that thing you call a friend. He did the start of your life for you, you did nothing to work to your dreams. Everything you have is because of others, nothing was made by your own strength. You're just a piece of trash that someone prettied up", she scoffed as she turned her back to me, I didn't notice the evil grin she had.

"... You're right... Jeffry gave me the application, I never took any upfront steps to become a Wonderbolt... I'm... trash", I whispered as my body started to turn gray.

"You're trash and that will never change", she said as she disappeared as she walked into the wall.

~Princess Celestia and Luna's Room~

Our hallways were alongside one another, and now we were in the same room that had nothing in it, just the two of us. But that changed a while ago as two blobs of light blue mist seeped out from the floor and formed into two forms, my sister and I.

"Dear sister of mine, does thou think that thou was right to end our start of eternal night?" The gray Luna said.

"What?" I asked at the sudden question.

"Thou banished us because thou was afraid", the gray Luna said as she slowly walked towards me until she was directly in front of me.

"Yes, I was afraid that Nightmare Mo", I stopped as she pushed her face against mine.

"NO! Thou didn't fear for her subjects, but for thy well being. Thou wanted all the power for thyself", she said, glaring at me from eye to eye.

"Thou will remove thyself from our sist-", I heard Luna shout, but the gray me stepped forward and blocked her path.

The gray me's horn glowed as a stonewall rose from the ground and separated us into two separated rooms, little did I know from her side of the wall she could see through since it was like a window for her.

"Thou wanted power, and for what? The banishment of thy's own sister?" The gray Luna said into my face.

"N-no, I wanted to protect the subjects from her rule", I said, slightly scared.

"Exactly, power, always about power. Is thy's own sister not more important than thy's own family?" She continued to throw words at me.

"N-no... I just... wanted to protect everypony...", I whispered.

"At the price of thy's own little sister... disgraceful of a Princess", she said before she turned around, an evil smile marked her face.

"... What was I thinking?" I whispered to myself as I began to cry, my mane and tail started to lose their glamorous colors and faded to a duller gray color.

*P.O.V. Change: Luna*

"Sister, sister! No!" I cried out as I pounded at the wall with my hooves.

"... Please, sister, no... we forgave thou long ago, thou did this for the greater good. We knew that thou would one day regret thy's choices, and we would be there to help thou...", I said as I began to cry.

"And yet you aren't. A simple wall, and you can't even break it with all of this power you posses", the gray Celestia said.

"A Princess with great power, and yet she can't break down a single wall down, just to go over and comfort your sister... what kind of Princess are you?" She said in disgust.

"... A Princess who can not help even their own sister...", I whispered as I slowly lowered my hoof from the wall.

"Yes... you're the most USELESS Princess there is out there", she said as she turned her back to me.

"Useless..." the word struck me deep, my coat, mane, and tail began to fade in color.

The two gray versions of my sister and myself turned to one another and smiled evilly before they seeped back into the ground, leaving the two of us in our current states of depression.

~Shining Armor's Room~

I panted as I stood over a grayish version of myself. It had suddenly came out of no where and I struck him on the side of his head, snapping his neck. I had no idea what it was to be honest, but I know that it wasn't me. I watched as the body turned blue and slowly seep into the ground and disappeared. A rectangle shape appeared at the other side of the room as something slid backwards and then went up, revealing a hallway. Trotting towards the entry way, forgetting everything about what I had just done, I looked around the mouth of the entry way and stopped when I looked at the floor. There was a block of stone with an image that completely overlapped four of the stone bricks that made up the floor, the image was like that ghostly figure I saw in the circular room. Walking into the darkness, the wall behind me closed itself and blocked my way back.

"Guess I continue on then...", I said as I trotted into the darkness, only to hit myself in the face as I ran into a wall.

"Ow", I said as I rubbed my nose.

Feeling around, I felt that the hallway branched off to the sides. Shrugging, I took the path to the left.

~Pinkie Pie's Room~

I didn't know what this blue misty stuff was, but it turned into me! I couldn't believe it, another me to party with! It had appeared a few minutes ago, but for some reason covering its ears as she laid on the ground.

"That's it! I give up!" She said as she turned into blue mist again and disappeared.

"Aw, I wanted to party with myself", I said as a piece of the stone wall moved in and then went up.

"Oh, neat-o, a door", I said as I bounced over to the entry way and bounced into the darkness as I whistled a merry tune.

~Giant Golom Room~

I sliced off three of the stone arms that were coming at us. The golom had grown about six feet smaller from continuously repairing itself as I broke off pieces of its body. Punching it was a big mistake, it was like punching a stone wall in my world, painful. Applejack was taking cover by the staircases that had been retracted into the wall, since she couldn't fight alongside with me, against a giant ass golom. I noticed that while I fought the golom, there were loud banging and echoing shouts coming from behind me, but Applejack couldn't have been the source of the sounds. No one else was in here, hopefully it wasn't more crazy shit I had to fight. Crossing my swords, I felt my feet press down into the grassy floor as the golom used own of its giant hands to punch down on me. Feeling that it was pulling its arm back to strike again, I pulled my legs out of the dirt and leaped into the air and dug my blades into its hand.

Pulling my swords out, I ran up its arm and reached it's giant lumpy shoulder and sliced down on it cutting it slightly. Digging my sword down deeper, into it's shoulder and pried the stoney limb apart from it's body. It's giant arm fell to the ground, kicking up a giant cloud of dust from all the debris on the ground. The golom started to use other parts of it's body to repair it's body as I leaped down and used my sword to dig into it's body as I slowed myself down, drawing a long line done from it's shoulder to the top of it's leg. Landing on my feet, the golom kicked me all the way over to the stairs. I crashed into the wall.

"John, are you okay?" Applejack asked as she looked into the hole in the wall.

"Surprisingly, yes. Body hurts like crazy though, using my magic alone to shield myself isn't as efficient as wearing my armor", I grunted as I started to pull myself out of the hole.

Suddenly, I felt a force coming from behind me, sending me out of the hole, even bringing a giant chunk of the wall with me. Getting up, I saw that it was Jeffry, he had his claws in a giant... snake head? I watched as the snake turned black and slowly began to be absorbed into Jeffry, all that was left was bones of the giant snake. Black lines began to draw themselves out from the color of his shirt and onto his neck and face.

"Okay, what was that?" I asked.

"John, everything here isn't real, it's all magic", he said as he tossed the skeleton aside.

"Really? Well that makes sense, because giant goloms aren't exactly normal", I said as I pointed behind me.

I watched as Jeffry bring his hand up and formed a small black sphere, which he then threw at the golom, hitting it right on its chest. The golom roared as another black orb formed in front of it and grew bigger and bigger as the golom began to crumble. In a matter of seconds, it was nothing more than a pile of rubble, the sphere floated back to Jeffry. He then grabbed the sphere and it shrunk completely as the lines on his body began to glow brighter.

"Wow, all I had to do was do that? Never thought of that", I said as I sheathed my swords.

"Don't worry, not like you're smart enough to realize something like this on your own", Jeffry laughed as he patted my shoulder.

"Ah shut it you smart ass", I said.

"Can you two not fight? We need to find the others", Twilight said as she appeared in the giant hole in the wall.

"Good to see ya'll are fine", Applejack said.

"Same here. Come on, Twilight's right. Who know's what the others are fighting", Jeffry said.

"Yeah. You were fighting snakes, and I was fighting a giant fucking golom", I said.

"So... where do we go?" I asked.

Suddenly, large rumbling sounds came from the pile of rumble. Jeffry readied himself, as did I as I drew both my swords. We watched as the rumble began to sink inwards.

"Guess the golom died on top of a hole?" I asked as I slowly sheathed my swords again.

A short walk later, we were at the goloms ruined body.

"Oh hey, it is a hole... should we go into it?" I asked.

"We should, there isn't any other ways to go, other than go back where Twilight and I came from", Jeffry said as he scooped up Twilight.

Doing the same with Applejack, we leaped down into the hole. Our feet landed on the stone that had fallen through.

"Oh great, more hallways. Just how far does this fucking ruins go?" I said as I slapped my forehead.

We all walked down the hall. Jeffry and I were both ready to fight anymore weird things that could be in these ruins. From the looks of it, we saw the golom and the snake that were drawn into the wall at the start of these ruins, but we have yet to encounter the other two, the ghost thing and that pony. Was Discord even in here? Finally, we reached a well lit room, with two other paths that led to the left and the other to the right. Suddenly, we saw Chipper running out of the left pathway and go straight into the right hallway, not even notcing us.

"Er... was that Chipper?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's supposed to be with Fluttershy", Jeffry said as he scratched the top of his head.

A scream came from the pathway Chipper had come out, it sounded like...

"Fluttershy!" We all exclaimed as we all ran towards the left hallway and ran straight into the hall.

*P.O.V. Change: Chipper*

I came to a stop and turned around slightly, I was tired and out of breath. I had heard a scream just now. In the lit room that I had ran through, I could see Twilight, Applejack, John, and Jeffry running into the hallway that I had came out of. Did they hear the scream as well? No... no!

"Fluttershy. Urgh, why did I just leave her...", I said as I remembered, how could I have just blindly forgotten something like t hat.

"I hurt Fluttershy... should I go help her?" I asked myself as I heard another scream, followed by a loud thud.

"Fluttershy...", I whispered.

I hurt the first pony I ever loved, and now I ruined all chances of ever earning her love. Shaking my head, I charged back into the lit room and into the other hallway.

'_Once I help her, I'll accept my punishment from John and Jeffry_', I thought as I charged after them.

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**End of Chapter 16 :D Hope you guys liked this chapter. The next chapter will be coming later on... well, derp to that.**

**Please leave a Review :D!**


	17. Chapter 17: Newly Found Bond

"Fluttershy!" I shouted as we came to a halt.

In front of us was a golom the size of myself, fire was coming out of its neck, lighting up a good amount of the hallway. In it's stoney hand was Fluttershy. The shy pegasus was whimpering as the golom kept a tight grip on her. I raised my arms up to smash them into the ground to use my magic to collapse the floor beneath the golom, but stopped as the monster tightened its grip, earning a cry from the pegasus.

"John, what the hell do we do?" I asked as I slowly lowered my arms to my sides as I looked at John.

"I don't know, but we better do something qui-", John was cut off as something sprinted in between us and charged at the golom, it's body engulfed in green flames.

Whatever it was, it was shouting with anger as it tackled the golom straight on, cracking its stone body. A hand came out of the flames and grabbed hold of the goloms arm, another arm came out and grabbed the goloms other arm. I gasped as the flames died down, it was me!

"Jeff, I thought Shadow said he wasn't going to come back", John said as we watched as the golom roared as the person I thought was Shadow struck the golom with his knee.

Shadow, or so we thought, released the goloms left arm and pulled back his arm as it burst into green flames. Emerging from the flames was a similar arm as my own. He swung his claws at the arm that had a hold of Fluttershy and shattered the stone, causing Fluttershy to drop down. Catching her before she struck the ground, he immediately rushed back and stopped in front of and turned around. Placing Fluttershy done, he suddenly fell forward and landed face first onto the ground, he was panting heavily. Suddenly, his entire body burst into green flames once more and then died down, it was Chipper!

"Whoa, Chipper?" John said as he kneeled down and shook him.

"I'm... I'm... sorry", he said as he panted some more.

"I don't know what you're sorry for, but now we can fight this thing", John smiled as he drew his sword.

Looking down at Fluttershy, I saw that she was shaking a little as she whimpered lightly. Somepony like her must not get into these situations as much as John and I do, physical pain isn't something she's used to feeling I guess. Twilight and Applejack rushed to their friends aid, John and I moved in front of them to shield them if this golom could use some sort of ranged attack, which it did. The flames around its neck grew brighter and bigger as it raised one of its hands and pointed it at us. A blast of fire shot out from it's hand and straight at us. Rushing in front of John, I slammed my scaly arms together and formed a shield out of my scaly arms. The flames struck my arms and flew at the sides, but none of the flames struck either of the others behind me.

"Pfhooo, that didn't hurt, but it sure is hot", I exhaled as I shook my arms.

"My turn", John said as he lightly pushed me aside as he walked forward.

"Um, you might want to cover your fists, or at least use your sword...", I pointed out as John walked towards the golom with a baton made of his magic.

"Nah, I'm good with this", John said as he leaned to the side and dodged a swing from the golom.

Rushing forward, he drove the baton into the underside of its top like torso, white lines drew themselves across it's body as the golom roared. Leaping backwards, John kicked me back and then used his magic to form a transparent wall between the golom and us. I watched as the golom roared and then exploded. The blast was contained by the wall, but the smoke and dust seemed to be the only things that got through. Coughing, I fanned the air in front of me to clear away the smoke and dust.

"Jeez, if you're going to shield us, make a wall that can contain the smoke too", I said as I swung my arm hard, blowing away a great deal of smoke from our surrounding area.

"Yeah, yeah, shut your mouth", John laughed as he coughed in between his chuckling.

Once the smoke had cleared, I saw that the golom was nothing but a smoldering pile of dirt and stone. Twilight and Applejack were looking over Fluttershy as the pegasus was starting to breath normally again.

"Hey, Chipper. I thought you were dragged into the same area when we were all being taken into different halls, why was Fluttershy all alone?" I asked as I stood up and walked over to Chipper, who was still on the ground.

"I couldn't stay near her... or anyone else... please, just leave me here", Chipper mumbled as he turned his head away from me.

"Come on, you just gave us an opening to kick that goloms stony butt, che-", John stopped as Chipper turned back to us and glared at John.

"You want to know why I left her alone? It's because I hurt her, I pinned her down and snarled at her like a mad dog", he said.

"... Excuse me? I didn't quite hear you, did you just say that you hurt Fluttershy?" John said as he crouched down.

"H-he did, b-but he didn't mean to", Fluttershy whispered softly, but John didn't seem to hear her.

"You remember what I said before. I said if you hurt any of my friends, you're dead!" John shouted as he reached down and grabbed Chippers neck and raised him up.

"John, calm the hell down", I said as I grabbed his wrist and pulled his arm down, lowering Chipper enough to stand on his hooves.

"Fuck off, I warned him. Hurt any of our friends and he's dead", John said as I felted him tighten his grip.

"J-John... please, he didn't mean to", Fluttershy whispered again, slightly louder.

John seemed to hear the pegasus this time, and turned to look down at her. Looking back up at the Changeling, he shook his head as he dropped him onto the ground and shook my hand from his wrist.

"I want an explanation first, or else you're still going to die here", John said as he squatted down.

"Like I said, I can't be around you all any longer", Chipper said as he shook violently as he pushed himself up.

"Why?" I asked as I placed my hands on his shoulders and kept him in place, his shaking stopped a little.

"I'm hungry...", Chipper said as he looked down.

"And that gives you the right to hurt Fluttershy? The girls are carrying food in their saddlebags, you just had to ask", John growled at Chipper.

"John, shut up. He doesn't eat food that we can eat", I said as I pushed John away.

"You're right... I can only eat energy... love", Chipper said as he kept his head low.

"Didn't you pack that crystal you said you had?" I asked, he looked up.

"I didn't, I forgot to take it out of the bag that I brought Twilight back in. The bags gone, and so is my only source of food. My body reacted on it's own, it just wanted to eat, no matter who the source could be from", Chipper began to tear up as he turned to Fluttershy, who was looking at Chipper with a matching sad look.

"... So, what will happen if you continue to go without any energy to feed off of?" I asked.

"If I don't absorb any energy soon, I will either die, or my body will act on it's own and my mind will be gone, leaving a wild Changeling body that will attack anypony with energy to feed off of", Chipper said as he looked away from Fluttershy.

The pegasus looked sadder as she was no longer looking at his face. Suddenly, I saw a brief flash in my mind, similar to that of the dreams I had, but only shorter and while I was conscious. I smiled as I patted his shoulders and stood up.

"Come on, we're leaving these two to talk for a moment", I said as I grabbed hold of John's shirt and pulled him back, the two girls just looked at one another, but slowly followed.

"Are you nuts?! What if this shit head attacks her again?" John protested as he pulled back.

"John, sugarcube. Leave'em be. Jeffry, ya' got a plan of some sorts?" Applejack shushed John as she looked at me.

"I got a glimpse of what this outcome might be", I said as I smiled at the farmer and snapped my fingers.

A black veil encased the two we left behind, cutting in some of the still burning golom corpse to give the two some light.

*P.O.V. Change: Chipper*

'_No, no. Jeffry, what are you doing? I'll kill her if I lose it again!_' I thought panickingly as I looked around the inner portion of the veil.

"Chipper...", Fluttershy whispered my name.

I gasped and moved away from her, my back touched the veil.

"Please, Fluttershy, make Jeffry remove this thing from us. I don't want to hurt you", I said as I began to tear up some more.

"Chipper... I forgive you, I know you didn't mean to", she said as she smiled at me.

"How can you forgive me? How can you even smile at me?" I asked.

"I forgive you because this isn't what you really want, you even want to keep me safe, even in your current state. You even came back for me", she said as she started to walk towards me.

"I only came back to accept what John or Jeffry would do to me", I said as I looked away from her, biting my lip as I began to cry.

"Then why did you try to save me? …. Do you like me?" Fluttershy asked.

My ears perked up and I turned to the pegasus, my eyes wide as can be.

"Did you ask if I like you?" I asked, my mouth dropped open.

"Y-yes... do you?" She asked, blushing as she looked down, but kept looking at me with her eyes.

"No... I don't like you", I said, her face softened at my answer, sadness filled her features.

"I love you... I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you. Sort of like love at first sight... silly isn't it?" I laughed lightly, tears flowed down my black elastic skin.

"It's not silly...", she said as she smiled again and sat down in front of me and placed her hoof on my cheek.

"Of course it is, how could a pony and a Changeling ever find love? You don't even like or love me back", I said as I shook my head.

"I do like you... I love you", Fluttershy said as she continued to smile.

"... Really? Even after I pushed you down and almost started to take your energy?" I asked.

"Yes... that wasn't really you thinking, you said that yourself... if you really want to, you can take some of my energy", Fluttershy said as she blushed some more.

"... Are you sure? It will hurt", I said as I looked up, her face just a mere inch from mines.

"Yes... I'm sure", she said as she smiled at me.

Tears flowed down my face, no longer tears of sad and disgust for myself, but tears of joy. Our faces came closer together and finally, our lips touched. Her lips were soft, warm, and loving. Slowly moving our faces from one another, she giggled slightly as she touched her lips with her hoof.

"Thank you", I said as I touched my forehead to hers, making sure to not have my horn poke her.

Slowly, the fires from the golom corpse began to die down and soon left us in completely darkness. Just as the darkness was almost absolute, we kissed one final time before I started my spell, the spell to take the energy of somepony. She squeaked a little as the pain of my spell began to take effect, but soon stopped as I tensed up my body. I smiled in the darkness, I had managed to change the spell, she would no longer feel pain while I did this. I slowly began to feel my strength returning as my body started to gain some strength from her energy, her love, giving me the power to stand on my own... no, standing by her side.

*P.O.V. Change: Jeffry*

I smiled as I placed my arm around Twilight, we were all staring at the black veil I had cloaked the two in. They were all looking a bit uneasy, but uneasy wasn't enough to describe John, who was busy pacing around the veil, biting on his finger nails. Feeling that this was enough time, I snapped my fingers and uncovered the two from my magic, revealing a rather _touching_ scene. Fluttershy was lying her head on Chippers fore hooves, as Chipper looked down at the pegasus, smiling.

"I take it that you two have made up?" I smiled.

"Yes... we did", Chipper said as he smiled warmly at the unconscious, smiling pegasus as he stroked her mane.

"Okay, I'm confused. How did you know this would happen and do I still kill him?" John asked as he pointed his sword at Chipper.

Swinging my hand upward, I sliced John's sword in two with my claws.

"I saw this happen before it did, and no, you don't kill him", I shook my head at him.

"You knew this would happen? How?" Twilight asked.

"I'll tell you some other time, now we've got to find the others", I said as I rubbed the side of Twilight's neck.

"Hi everypony!" A cheery voice came from behind us.

"Pinkie Pie? What are ya' doin' here?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, some weird blue thingy came out of no where in a room I went into, but disappeared and then this weird door came out of no where so I went inside and went all over the place and here I am. I did hear some sounds coming from left and right of the room I was in, probably the others", Pinkie Pie said rather quickly.

"Did you catch any of that?" I asked John.

"I heard the word 'the' and that's it", John shurgged.

"Pinkie Pie, can you take us to where you were before? Maybe we can get to the others", Twilight said to the bouncing pink mare.

"Mind if we tag along?" A voice came from behind.

Turning around, AGAIN, I saw that it was Shining Armor, the Princesses and Rainbow Dash.

"Oh hey, you guys got out of that hallway? Where's Rarity?" I asked.

"She's probably in the room that her hallway led to. She's also probably gray and depressed, I found the others like that too. Took quite a lot of encouragement and _inspiring_ words to get them back to normal", Shining said as he rubbed his neck with his hoof.

"Eh, what now?" I asked.

"Well, once the Princesses came back to their normal selves, they told me that a blue mist came out and formed into their sister and said things that made them depressed and lose their colors. I think that ghost figure is supposed to make you hate yourself", Shining explained.

"Well, since Rarity was also taken into the same hallway as you guys, then we need to find her soon", I said as I took my arm off of Twilight and streched.

"Why?" John asked.

"Well, Rarity's always so proud and confident, don't want to see somepony with her personalty being destroyed mentally, won't be pretty", I said.

"Huh, point taken. Where do you think we should look first?" John asked.

"First of all, we need to find a way to get Fluttershy movi-", I stopped as Chipper cleared his throat.

"Don't worry... I'll carry her", Chipper said as he smiled down at the pegasus.

"Seems like everything's okay here, let's move on, shall we?" Celestia said as she looked at her sister and smiled, Luna smiled back.

After Chipper got Fluttershy on his back, we all went down the hall and watched as the hall suddenly changed. Walls moved out of the way and blocked openings and formed different directions, leading to a different location from where we had entered the hallway. We walked past several openings, but ignored them since Shining had told us just now that they each had the names of the others who had been thrown in to the middle hallway. Finally, we found the hallway entrance that would lead to the room that Rarity was supposedly in. We all walked single file into the hallway. A bright light at the end of the tunnel shined as we drew nearer and nearer to the room that Rarity was supposed to be in. Rarity was siting in front of a broken table that had an old looking sewing machine and unfinished clothing .

"Rarity?" I called out as the others came into the room.

"Leave me alone, deary... my life isn't worth anything, not worth having friends...", Rarity said as she nudged a piece of wood with her hoof.

"What did you tell yourself?" Shining asked.

"What's the point in my life... I've spent my entire life working on making clothing, and for what? Clothing serves no purpose for ponies, we're born with fur, we don't need anything else to keep us warm...", Rarity said.

"You think your talent at making clothing is useless?" John asked as he stepped forward.

"Yes, my talent, my life all means nothing... clothing is pointless", Rarity said.

"Are you kidding me? If you never made Jeffry and myself some clothes, we'll be butt naked by now. Who made our clothes?" John said.

"... I did", Rarity said as she lifted her head up a little and looked at us.

"And who made us something awesome to wear to the Gala?" John asked, taking another step forward.

"I... did", Rarity said as her ears perked up a little.

"And who's responsible for making those high-class snobs look classy for special occasions?" John asked.

"I did, I did!" Rarity said as her dull gray body glowed as her colors returned.

"Wow, you're good at this", Shining said.

"Thank you, John. I never really saw it any other way before that monster of an image made me so down on myself, thank you deary", Rarity said as she trotted over to us.

"Well, we're all back together. All that's left is to find out if Discord is still alive, and save the scientists", I said.

"Not really, we found out about the golom and the snake from the carvings... and the ghost thing, which we have yet to 'kill', plus that Alicorn has yet to be seen as well", John pointed out.

"Oh yeah... oh well, doesn't matter. Now that we're all back together, this won't be anything that we can't handle", I said as I clenched my fist.

"Yeah, let's get going", John smiled as he walked into the darkness of the hallway.

We all followed him back into the hallway as the hall was sealed off once the last of us had entered the hallway.

* * *

**Chapter 17! :P I hope you guys liked how I played out Chipper and Fluttershy's new found relationship together :D. Sorry if the events seem a bit quick and rushed.**

**Please leave a Review! I appreciate any feedback :D**


	18. Chapter 18: Reunion

It has been several minutes since we had found Rarity and returned back to her normal state... or whatever the hell happened to her, I didn't know. During these past few minutes of walking in the darkness, I was starting to feel as if something was near us, not following us but lurking somewhere around us. The hallways were being lit by these weird line that went straight down the middle of the ceiling and straight forward. It gave off a light blue, then green, and then a red flash as it pulsated with strange energy.

"Hey, there are three more hallways", Shining Armor said as we reached a small circular room that branched off to three more halls.

"Yeah, but the ones that branch off to the side have the symbol of the golom and the snake on it", I said as I turned around and looked up.

"And this one is the symbol with the ghost on it... guess we go down the middle?" I said as I turned around.

"Yeah, this one has a symbol of the Sun and the Moon", Rainbow Dash said as she flew in front of the final symbol.

Walking into the hallway, a wall sealed us in as the last of us entered the hallway. The hallway didn't last long, we only walked several feet from the other room and arrived at another wall.

"Okay, what now?" John asked as he knocked on the wall.

"Move back", I said as I pushed John aside and reeled back my arm and then struck the wall.

The wall cracked and then broke apart and was reduced to rubble. Once the wall was gone, a odd force blew us all back slightly and I felt my arms burn. I watched as my arms became completely black and start to fall apart. My arms lost it's monstrous form, and was now what they normally looked.

"John, what happened?" I asked as I looked over myself to see if anything else of myself had been affected.

"The others seem to be fine, but your arms are normal again, and my stuff is pretty much garbage", he said as I heard clanking.

Turning around I saw that John's sword was nothing more than a hilt that he had dropped to the ground. The only thing he had was his other sword.

"What now?" John said as torches began to light up from within the room that I had revealed when I broke down the wall.

"Can you still use magic?" I said as I snapped my fingers, but couldn't bring my arms back to normal.

"Er, let me check", he said as he clapped his hands together.

I watched as his armor reappeared in one solid suit, but nothing more than his armor and the last sword he had on him.

"I can, what about you?" He asked as he unsheathed his sword.

"I can't do my arms anymore, but maybe I can at least get a weapon out", I said as I snapped my fingers again.

I formed two thin swords and a pair of black spiked gloves, similar to the ones that John had made a little while back when I saw him change them during our fight with that flaming golom.

"Okay, so what do we do next?" He asked as he walked towards the giant lit room.

"Maybe we should take a look inside the room?" Chipper suggested.

"Yeah, maybe we can finally get to Discord, if he's alive, and kill him", I said as I clenched my fists.

"This won't turn out good if he's alive, so l-", John stopped as his foot sank down as a brick he stepped on sank into the floor, giving off a slight click.

"Jeff, I think I sprung a trap...", John said as he groaned and slouched forward, dangling his arms at his sides.

Suddenly, the sounds of thudding came from behind. Turning around, I saw that more walls were slamming down from the ceiling, the walls, and from the ground. Snapping my fingers, I teleported us all out of the hallway, just as the last stone slab slammed down, sealing us within the strangely large and lit room. I dropped to one knee as I felt the energy being sapped from me. Whatever was in this place, it was sapping my energy when I just teleported us all out of the hall. Loud sounds of stone scraping against stone could be heard as three doors opened from the sides of the room and one behind a large statue of an Alicorn that was in the middle of the room. I got up, but wobbled a little as we all watched as three figures came out of the room.

"Okay, this is creepy. Didn't you kill that snake?" John said as he pointed to the right side of the room.

A skeleton of a snake dragged itself across the stone floor with its bone fingers. From the left side of the room, a flaming pile of rubble sat at the entrance of the door, but started to build itself up and formed a similar looking golom that we had just killed a while ago. From the door behind the statue I could see a faint blue mist as the ghostly figure trotted out from the door. Once all three of the figures were out of their respected halls completely, the doors slammed back down. I whipped around as I heard loud rumbling come from behind us as the wall I had smashed began to repair itself.

"Okay, do we have to fight these again?" John asked as he opened up his arms as he stepped back, moving the others back.

"Should be easy, the snake is nothing but bones, and the golom is pretty weak if you think of a way to properly fight it", I said as I pounded my fists together.

"Would you like us to fight as well?" Celestia asked as she stepped forward with Shining Armor.

"No, when I teleported us out of the hallway, I felt a lot of my magic being sapped. You guys don't have a lot of magic to spare", I said.

"What about me? I can still fight and I don't use magic", Rainbow Dash asked.

"Sure, just watch yourself", I said.

"I'll fight too", Chipper said as he slowly set the still unconscious pegasus on the floor and stepped forward as his body was engulfed in green flames.

Out from the flames, Chipper now looked like me, but with the black scaly arms that I had before the odd force sapped my magic. Turning back to the three creatures as they stood in front of the statue, I watched as the ghostly pony shriek as two glowing tentacles shot out from its body and stab into the two other creatures. We all covered our ears. Cracking one eye open, I saw that the bodies of the golom and the snake glowed as well. The shrieking stopped and we all slowly regained our posture and watched as the three figures began to come together.

"Oh damn", John said.

The three of the creatures were now one being. The body was stone, but had several ribs sticking out of its chest. It's arms had small chunks missing, revealing the snakes bones. The head of the creature was a crater, but had blue flames burning form within, around the skull of the skeleton. We watched as the skull began to turn blue and mold into a small oval like orb and form two glowing eyes.

"... I don't know how much more weirder this world can get", John said as he held the hilt of his sword with both of his hands.

"I think you guys should stay out of this fight", I said as I looked over my shoulder at Rainbow Dash and Chipper.

"Are you sure?" Chipper said.

"Yeah, this might be a bit too much for you two", I said as I turned back to the newly formed creature and got into a fighting stance.

"If you say so", Chipper said as he changed back into his Changeling form.

John charged forward just as the creature did as well. As John rammed his side into the creature, the force of the impact sent a shockwave that pushed all of us back. Rushing forward, I struck the creature in it's shoulder. The arm cracked, but didn't break, the sound of bone cracking could be heard though. The creature gave off a loud shriek of pain and suddenly grabbed hold of John just as he was about to move away, and then swung John into me. I pushed my feet down on the ground and brought the two of us to a stop. We pushed ourselves away from one another as the golom shot a fire ball at us. The fireball missed us and struck the wall behind us, blowing up a piece of the wall and sent piece of stone everywhere. The creature suddenly moved with blinding speed and struck a rather large piece of stone that had blown away from the wall and was headed to the statue.

"John, did you see that?" I said as I formed my bow.

"Yeah, it must have shot something inside of the fireball when he threw it", John said.

"No, not that. It protected the statue", I said as I pulled back on the bow and fired at the statue.

Once more, the creature blocked the attack on the statue with its hand, it's hand began to ice over from my arrow.

"Maybe it's something special to it?" John said.

"It's a statue of an Alicorn, Alicorn's are like unicorns, but had a lot of magic... it must be the source of all of the magic within this ruin!" I exclaimed as I realized what the statue was.

"Ha ha, so we break it and these things die right?" John grinned as he reeled his arm back.

"Not sure, but it looks like it", I said as I pulled back on my bow again.

"You take the left and I take the right", John said as he ran off.

As I ran along side the curve of the right side of the room, I fired repeatedly at the statue, each arrow being blocked by the creature as it began to ice over even more. The creature just moved it's limbs around madly to break off the ice . As it continued to block my arrows as John charged straight towards the statue. Leaping at the statue, he swung his sword. Just as he was about to slice through the statue, the creature pointed on arm at John and fired another fireball at him, hitting him dead on. John was sent flying into the wall behind the others who were watching as we fought the morphed creature. Disarming my bow, I charged directly at the creature as I weaved myself through it's attacks. Reaching the creature, I leaped up and then used its shoulders as another platform and leaped over it's blue flaming head. The creature roared as I struck the statue with my fist.

"Ha ha!" John cheered from the other side of the room as he pulled himself out of the wall.

We watched as a white light shined out of the cracks began to spread more and more. At the corner of my eye, I noticed that the creature was backing away from the statue as it continued to crack more and more. Finally, the statue broke completely and a blinding white light engulfed the entire room. Once the light had faded, all that was left of the statue was a pile of rubble and a floating white orb that floated above the rubble. A beam of light shot out of the orb and struck the creature. Letting out one final shriek, the creature crumbled.

"Jeff, I think we fucked up big time", John said as he formed another sword.

"Okay, who woke me up", a echoing voice suddenly came from every corner of the room.

**(A/N: Wait... if it's a circular room... there aren't any 'corners'... what am I thinking e_e)**

John and I looked at each other from across the room and then at the orb.

"...What?" John said as I he scratched his head.

"I said, who woke me up? I was only asleep for one day... why was I in stone?" The voice echoed again.

"Okay, first of all. Who are you and where are you?" I said as I looked around the room.

"I'm right in front of you", the voice echoed again as the orb suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Wait... you can talk?" I said as two tentacles popped out the sides of the orb.

"I'm talking right?" The orb said as one of it's tentacles grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the others.

"Point taken... ", I said.

"Jeff, you do know you're being dragged by something we have no idea on what it is, right?" John said as he wagged his sword at me.

"Oh, sorry for my appearance. Is this better?" The orb said as a blinding light shined again.

We all shielded our eyes as the light continued to shine for another second. Once the light faded, the orb was now an Alicorn that was just an inch taller than Celestia was. It was a stallion for one, and he wore a crown and had a similar pendent or necklace that Celestia was wearing, only more duller in color.

"Father?" Princess Celestia gasped.

"Hey there pumpkin, how are you and little LuLu doing?" The stallion smiled.

"Nice beard", John smiled as he sheathed his sword.

"Why thank you", he said.

"Father, aren't you supposed to be dead?" Celestia said, her face still filled with shock.

"I am, it's er... oh nevermind that. I'll let your mother explain this", he said as he trotted towards the stone that was once a statue.

I noticed that both Celestia and Luna's faces both changed from happy to terrified.

"Mother is here?" Luna asked, her voice shaky.

"... Yes", he said as he suddenly lowered his head.

"Yes, am I here. Now is there a problem with that, sweetie?" A motherly voice asked from the pile of rubble.

"Not at all dear!" The Alicorn suddenly exclaimed as he lifted his head up immediately, Celestia and Luna both seemed to flinch at the voice.

"Now, if you would be so kind as to guide our guests here, I would like to speak with them, especially those two. You all seem quite tired", the voice said as the rubble suddenly turned white and sank into the ground, revealing a gaping hole that was underneath it.

Just as I was about to ask what it was, the Alicorn hopped into the hole and disappeared. The hole's opening was nothing more than a white surface that gave off a ripple effect when he breached the surface.

"Eh, do we follow him?" John asked.

"It is best if we do so, we do not wish to make Mother wait", Luna said as she and her sister quickly trotted over to the hole and leaped into it without hesitating.

"... They seem scared of something", I said as I walked towards the hole.

"Maybe they're scared of their mother?" Twilight said.

"Might be. Come on, let's get going already", I said as I walked to the edge of the hole and stepped off the edge and fell into the hole.

I landed on my feet, the ground was like before, nothing seemed to be different. Standing up, I saw that I had landed on some sort of stone path that bordered a beautiful garden with a pond that had a rim made of individual stones. Trees surrounded the pond, as well as a pathway in the dirt that was made of flat stones. I heard the others come through as they all landed behind me, all but Twilight, who ended up landing on my back.

"Sorry, Jeffry", Twilight said as she quickly got off of me.

"Don't worry, that didn't hurt", I said as I got back up and brushed myself off.

"What is this place? Chipper asked as he nudged Fluttershy a little to move her back onto his back properly.

"Whatever this place is, I simply adore it!" Rarity said as her eyes sparkled at the scenery.

"This is our home", the same motherly voice said, causing Celestia and Luna to flinch once more.

Stepping out from the cover of a large bush, an Alicorn came out. It was a mare, her coat was a dark blueish or purple color, she wore a dress that was decorated with a black stripe that slithered along the boarder of the dress. Long sparkling and nearly transparent scarf practically floated over her back. The rest of the dress that she wore was also a near transparent. Her mane and tail were similar to Luna's but didn't flow but obeyed the laws of gravity, unlike Luna's and Celestia's mane. Her mane was longer, her face looked as if she could be as young a Celestia.

"My daughters, how nice it is to see you again", the beautiful mare said, her eyes half lidded as she looked towards us.

"Y-yes, it has been quite a long time, Mother", Luna said, sweat was beading down her forehead.

"Indeed it has been a while", Celestia said, her voice was happy but also had hints of worry.

"Are these your friends?" The mare said as she walked towards us, her gaze didn't leave me.

"Yes, ma'am. We're friends with your daughters", I said.

"My, my, quite the gentlecolt... what are you, if I may ask", she said.

"My name is Jeffry. He's John", I said as I motioned to John.

"As for what we are. We're humans, we're not from this world", I said.

"Humans? Yes... I remember, I've seen several of your kind before", she said as she smiled again and turned around and slowly walked down the path.

"Whoa, what? You've seen other humans in your world before?" John said, everypony and ourselves were also shocked.

"Why of course, I took part in their creation, Father did as well. Now, where did your father run off to", she said as she disappeared around the corner of a bush.

"Who's Father?" I asked.

"Mother and Father address one another by Mother and Father, they do not use their names as often", Luna explained as she trotted after her mother.

We all followed the path and soon arrived at a large clearing that was surrounded by greenery and flowers bordered the ground of the round clearing. Celestia and Luna's mother sat on a red cushion, by a pure white table that had another similar cushion on the other side. Suddenly, a large black dragon dropped down from the sky and landed softly as it opened its wings to slow itself down. John and I drew our swords and readied to fight it.

"Now, now, John and Jeffry. Do not be afraid of Lucy, she's a gentle dragon. Thank you, Lucy", she said as she stroked the dragons snout as it set a silver platter with a teapot on the table.

"Oh... okay", John said as he looked at me and the we both sheathed our swords.

"Sorry about that, Mother. I went to put on something nice, this is our first reunion with our daughters in a long time", a voice said as the Alicorn we saw before landed by the table as he flew down from the sky.

"I see that Lucy has arrived with some tea, thank you, Lucy", Father said, but flinched as little as Lucy snorted at him.

"Won't you all join us for some tea?" Mother said.

"We would love to", I said as I we all walked towards them.

"Hm? My apologizes, but might I ask why there is a Changeling amongst your group?" Mother asked, her wings opening, moving her dress aside.

"Oh, he's our friend', I said.

"Hm, strange. I thought we had rid this world of your kind a few centuries ago", Mother said with a smile as she took a sip from her teacup while keeping her motherly tone.

Her words sent a chill down my spine.

"Y-yes, Chrysalsis told me of that tale when I was born, she said that she was hidden away by her Queen before you single hoofedly eradicated her mothers hive", Chipper gulped as sweat began to bead down his forehead.

"No matter, nothing I can do about your kind now", Mother said as she set her teacup down.

"Um, Mother, ma-", I stopped as she raised her hoof a little towards me.

"My apologizes for interrupting you, Jeffry. Mother is a rather awkward word for you to address me by. My name is Eclipse, Queen Eclipse. My husbands name is Nova, King Nova", she said as placed her hoof on her chest and then motioned to King Nova, who waved at us.

"Not at all, Queen Eclipse. I wanted to ask about the other humans in this world, do you mind telling us about them", I asked.

"Let's see...", she smiled as she touched her chin with her hoof.

"Hmm, what's that, Lucy? Ah, yes. I remember him, quite the charmer he was", Eclipse giggled lightly as the dragon let out a shaking chuckle.

"Uh, who are you talking about?" I asked.

"Oh, just a human friend that came into our world several centuries ago", Eclipse said as she turned to me.

'_Wonder what era that guy was from_', I thought.

"Well, nevermind the human stuff. That isn't really important", I said.

"Mother, have any other ponies arrive here?" Celestia asked.

"Ah, yes. Some ponies who called themselves scientists came here, but I showed them the way back. They're okay", Eclipse said.

"Great, then we have nothing to worry about", John laughed as he folded his arms behind his head.

Suddenly, a familiar figure stepped out of the bushes, we all gasped.

"Mother, I felt some more presences arrive here. Did those smarty pants come back?" The familiar figure said.

"Oh, it's you guys", the figure said as he crossed his miss-matching arms across his chest.

"Discord!" John and I shouted as we drew our swords.

* * *

**Blam! Cliffhanger. Hope you guys liked this chapter owo. More to be out... soon? Or whenever the hell I feel like writing again e_e**

**Please leave a Review!**


	19. Chapter 19: Scary Mother

John and I charged forward, our swords out of their sheathes and ready to cut Discord down to pieces, but our bodies glowed a dark blue color that kept us in place. I tried to move, but was anchored in place. John and I watched as Discord walked forward but walked straight past us and towards Eclipse and Nova.

"Discord, how are you alive?" I growled as I put every ounce of strength I could into breaking free from the strange magic.

"Mother and Father will explain... never expected to see you all again", Discord said as he opened the top of the teapot and peered inside, then placed the top back into place and picked up the teapot.

John and I were brought back to the others by some sort of magic, but once we were in front of them I could see that Eclipse's horn was glowing the same color.

"Jeffry, I understand why you are angry, but do not worry. Discords well behaved now... aren't you, Discord?" Eclipse said as she kept her head in place, but looked at Discord with only her eyes turning.

Discord flinched, beads of sweat could be seen sliding down the sides of his head.

"Y-yes, Mother. I'm sorry for all I've done in the past", Discord said before he disappeared into the bushes with the teapot at hand.

Once he was out of sight, Eclipse released her magic from our bodies and allowed us to move again. John and I sheathed our swords and groaned in disgust at Discord, how could he be alive? Mother seemed to have noticed our attitude even more towards him.

"I take it that you wish to learn the reason as to why my Son is alive", Eclipse said.

"Your son?" My jaw dropped.

"He's our brother?!" Celestia and Luna gasped.

"Do not worry. You're not related, but Father and I did create him, an honest mistake on our part", Eclipse said with a smile.

"Okay, that doesn't mean anything to us. Why is that piece of shi-", John suddenly flinched as Eclipse sent a harsh glare his way, silencing him.

"I would prefer not to have any such foul language in my presence", she said as her glare faded and was replaced with a warming smile.

"Y-yes, ma'am", John said as sweat poured down from the top of his head and dripped onto the ground.

"Um, I think he was going to ask what I was going to ask. Why is he still alive?" I asked, gulping as she turned her attention to me.

"As you already know, Discord is a God. You see, when Gods die in the outside world, our souls are moved her by the First One, where we will live forever. If we are to die again in this world, our souls will be destroyed", Eclipse said as Discord came out of the bushes, steam was coming out of the spout of the teapot.

"... Okay, that explains why he's still alive, but how can you allow him to live? After everything he's done with my body? To everypony?" I asked as I glared at Discord as he set the teapot on the table and walked over to Lucy and stood by her side.

"Discord is nothing more than an animated concentration of my dark side, Nightmare Moon", she said, causing Luna to droop her ears a little.

"My dear LuLu, do not worry about it. Nightmare Moon was nothing more than something you inherited from me. The First One ordered for me to rid myself of my darkness, Father had poured some of his magic into Discord to try and limit the activeness of Discords ill intentions. Believe it or not, what you experienced was actually a 'controlled' chaos", Eclipse said.

"But what's to stop him from doing anything else? And what's this First One you keep mentioning?" I asked.

"What's to stop him from doing anything else you say?" Eclipse said as she spread out her wings again, a shadow hung around here face as she slowly turned towards Discord.

Discord started to sweat bullets and slowly back way, Lucy's face was a bit awkward as she looked at Mother's threatening face.

"Little Discord, you wouldn't think of doing anything naughty to our little world, do you? Especially. This. World", Eclipse asked as the shadow seemed to grow more and more vicious, Discord was practically shrunk down in fear.

"Y-yes-no, I promise not to ever do anything like that again", Discord said as he hid behind Lucy's wing.

"Good. As for the First One, she is the one who is the creator of all life in this world, and the creator of several other worlds", she said.

"So... like the God _God_?" John asked.

"Hmm, think of her as the very first Alicorn to ever be born", Eclipse said as Nova poured her some tea.

"Oh, that makes more sense. Speaking of creating worlds, what did you mean back then when you said that you took part in the creation of humans?" I asked, this seemed to get everyone's attention.

"Well, Father and I are far older than your race is. Father and I didn't have any direct credit to the creation of your world, but the First One had already created your world, just without any actual life. Father and I caused a massive explosion to trigger a reaction that would soon lead to the creation of humans and all other life", she said.

"The big bang... that sort of sounds like a direct cause to the creation of humans, if you ask me", I said.

"Wait, other life? So there are aliens?" John asked.

"...", John and I looked at one another, but pushed the thought aside.

"Mother, we are curious. Why is thou here? Thou did not die as our father did", Luna asked.

"Little LuLu, this is the cycle of Alicorns", Eclipse cooed as she rubbed the underside of Luna's chin, earning a slight giggle from her daughter.

"When two Alicorns have children, they will always have two or one foal, depending on their place in this world. As for Father and I, I controlled the Moon, while as Father controlled the Sun. Two Alicorns who control the same thing can not exist, so when you two reached a certain age, Father and I would pass away. Father died before Celestia turned of age, I died when little LuLu here turned of age", Eclipse said.

"So... we killed Mother?" Luna asked as her ears drooped/

"LuLu, dear, do not feel sad. This is the way things are. It is a shame we couldn't introduce some fine Alicorn stallions to you both before we passed", Eclipse said.

"Mother, it is okay", Celestia said.

"... Okay, Discord is _handled_ and the scientists are safely out of the ruins... what do we do next?" Shining asked.

"... We go back home?" John shrugged.

"If you all wish to go home, I will be happy to help you back", Eclipse said as she took a sip from her teacup.

"We would love to have your help... seeing as we have no idea how to get back", I said.

I watched as her horn glowed and our bodies glowed the same color We all disappeared with a flash of light and reappeared outside of the castle.

"Wait, seriously? Just like that? Wow...", John said as he clapped his hands, his sword disappeared, along with the other things he had on him, bits of armor and such.

"Guess we can finally go back home?" I sighed as I snapped my fingers, my sword disappeared as well.

"Your Mother is really scary", John said to the Princesses.

"Thou has not seen what our Mother really is like when she's mad", Luna said with an awkward smile.

"I don't think I want to see that", John said.

"You really don't", Celestia said.

"So, I guess we can finally get some relaxing done?" Twilight asked as she trotted to my side and leaned on my arm.

"I hope", I smiled to her as I wrapped my arm around her neck.

"I'm going to take Fluttershy back to her cottage", Chipper said as he spread out his insect like wings.

"Wait, I just remembered. With all of this out of the way, there's finally time to ask you all something. I'm getting married soon", he said.

"What? And you never told me?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Well, with everything going on it was kinda difficult to find a time to tell you all this. You were depressed for a long time when Jeffry was dead and I didn't want to bring up something like love", Shining said as Twilight pouted at him.

"Oh... well who are you getting married to?" Twilight asked, her voice becoming more calm.

"You know her, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza", Shining said.

"Long name", John said as we all began to walk forward.

"Sorry about this, everypony, John and Jeffry. But my sister and I must return to Canterlot to attend to our duties", Celestia said.

"Okay, bye", I said.

The Princesses nodded and teleported away.

"Okay, back to the matters at hand.. or hoof", I said.

"Ah yes, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is the mare I'm marrying", Shining said again.

"A Princess? Jeez, Shining, what have you been doing in Canterlot?" Twilight giggled as we resumed our walk towards the giant pit.

"Being happy with my life with the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria", Shining said as he trotted up to his sisters side.

"Hey, I thought you said I was the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria", Twilight teased.

"Yeah, that was when we were foals", Shining rolled his eyes.

"Well, to me she's the most beautiful mare in the world. And you can't have her back", I chuckled as I patted Twilight's shoulder lightly.

We arrived at the pit, bridge was still gone of course. With the magical force being weaker out here than it was in the ruins, I snapped my fingers. A long bridge made of my magic grew out from beneath our feet and hooves and stretched out to the other side.

"I'll be going on ahead", Chipper said as he spread his insect wings again and took off.

"Bye!" I called out to him, he waved back to us.

"Well", John said.

"I say Applejack is the most beautiful of all mares in this crazy world", John chuckled again as he scooped up Applejack and carried her as if she was a Princess herself.

"Knock it off, john", Applejack gave him a smile.

"If anypony is beautiful, it's Twilight", I said as I shook my head at him.

"Oh yeah?" John said.

"Yeah!" I said back to him.

And throughout the entire trip back to Ponyville, we continued to debate who was the most beautiful of mares. Eventually we all settled on Celestia and Luna's mother, she was beautiful. Of course we all earned a slap across the back of our head by Twilight and Applejack, Shining got slapped by his sister. We exited the Everfree Forest and Ponyville came into view. Shining told us all that the wedding was in just two days, and he wanted to know if we could all make it to the wedding. We all of course said we could be there and would love to go to his wedding. I told him I would tell Chipper and Fluttershy, or one of the girls would tell them about the wedding. Shining had to get back to Canterlot to prepare for the upcoming wedding of his. Apparently it was going to be held at the castle, Princess' weddings sure are something.

One by one, they all left to go back to their own homes. John went with Applejack back to the apple farm, he wanted to spend some time with Applejack and her little sister for a while. Twilight and I went for a nice walk into the park that wasn't too far from here. It was just a simple round area with a fountain in the middle, a short bridge lead to Ponyville, so we would be able to make it back in just a few minutes before it would become nighttime.

"So, what do you think of your brother getting married?" I asked as we walked into the park, barely any ponies were here.

"The fact that he never told me, or sending me a letter at least, I'm rather annoyed, but happy for him", she said as she leaned her head on my arm.

"... Twilight?" I asked as I looked down at her.

"Yes?" She replied as she smiled, looking up at me.

"What would you think of us getting married?" I asked, smiling down at her.

"Are you proposing?" She blushed, giving me a matching smile.

"Not really, but I just wanted to know", I asked, her smile not fading one bit.

"I would tackle you to the ground and say 'I will", over and over until you can't think nothing but those two words", Twilight giggled as she bumped me with her flank as she trotted ahead of me.

I smiled as I shook my head, and jogged after her. She laid down on a bench and patted the spot in front of her, telling me to sit there. Once I sat down, she turned over and laid her head on my leg.

"Twilight, how does marriage work for you ponies?" I asked.

"Hmm, what do you mean?" She asked, looking up at me.

"Well, in my world, the male of the couple... or one of them, depending if their the same sex and all, we would give the other a ring... but you have no fingers", I said as I grabbed one of her hooves and shook it in front of her face.

"Oh, that depends on what race you are. Unicorns get a ring and place it on their horns. Pegasi and earth ponies just wear a sort of band around their hooves, or get a ring that unicorns would get and spring it around their necks, but married ponies never wear their rings after their weddings", Twilight said as she pulled her hoof out of my hand and poked my nose.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, think about it. You can easily lose them sometimes. Weddings are pretty well known to all, even if you're not friends or even know the pony, you would be allowed to go. With so many ponies knowing who you're married to it's easy to remember who's with who", Twilight said.

"Huh... makes sense", I said as I pinched her nose and shook it it a little.

She giggled and poked my nose again. I saw that she suddenly looked to the side, away from my face. Looking up, I saw that the Sun and Moon were changing their places. The horizons color changed quickly as the two changed their places. The stars lit up the skies as the sky turned black.

"Guess we should head on back?" I said as I rubbed her neck, she nodded.

Removing her head from my leg, I got up. Instead of just teleporting back to the library, we decided to walk, we still had a lot to catch up on. The night air was cool, the stars and Moon illuminated our path.

~Sweet Apple Acre's~

"Come on John! You can do it!" Applebloom cheered as she watched on with Granny Smith and a blushing apple farmer.

"So, Big Mac, think you can beat me?" I grinned evilly as I pressed my forehead onto his as I held both of his hooves in my hands as we pushed hard against one another.

"Eeyup!" Big Mac grinned back at me with the piece of hay sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

The matter with Shining getting married was Applejack and my conversations topic that we were chatting about when we walked through the door. Little Applebloom heard us and suddenly asked if we were going to get married. But Big Mac wouldn't allow it, not unless I could beat him in a fight. I was surprised, Big Mac was able to keep up for so long, even with my monstrous strength. I turned my body to the side and used both arms to grab hold of his left foreleg and pulled forward hard as I leaned forward. With a loud roar, I sent him over my back and into the air in front of me. He fell onto the floor back first, taking this opportunity I leaped into the air and readied myself to drop on him with my elbow. Before my attack could land, he struck me on my chin as I dropped down.

Finally, after several minutes, I won.

"I win!" I shouted as I stood by Big Mac's side, my foot on his back.

"Yay!" Applebloom cheered as she bounced on top of the couch.

I turned to the girls, sweat stained my clothes and face. Looking at Applejack, she was blushing as she smiled at me.

"Ready yourself, Applejack. Cause one day I'll ask you to marry me", I pointed at her with a smug grin on my face.

"Yeah, Ah'll be ready fer that", she smiled.

"Now, I need a break", I said as I fell forward and landed face first.

I could hear the girls all giggling. Granny Smith snorted awake and looked around the room.

"What in tarnation is goin' on here?" She said, before she immediately went back to sleep.

~Fluttershy's Cottage~

Pulling the blanket on Fluttershy's bed back, I pressed my side to the bed and gently tilted my body a little and slid Fluttershy into her bed.

"There we go", I said as I used my mouth to grab hold of her blanket and pull it over her.

Just as my head was close to her head, she wrapped her hooves around my neck and pulled me close.

"Mm...", she moaned in her sleep as she held me in place, a smile spread on her face.

"Fluttershy?" I whispered as she continued to hold me in place, but earned nothing but another sleepy moan.

She turned over, my head still in her grasp.

'_Wow, she's strong_', I blinked as I found myself now on her bed.

My face was now just an inch away from hers. She looked so peaceful. Fluttershy should have been awake a long time ago, or maybe I drained a little too much energy from here? At least I somehow found a way to make the spell to not make her feel pain. Still, I wouldn't dare take any energy from her without her permission.

"Good night... Chi...pper...", she mumbled as she hugged me closer, she was most likely sleep talking.

"Good night, Fluttershy", I whispered as I gave her a kiss on her cheek and then closed my eyes.

* * *

**Yay, kind of relaxed/peaceful endings for now :D This fanfic will most likely not reach the 30 chapter mark. You all know what that means... this fanfic will be ending soon. The next fanfic that's coming after this will be slightly more planned (lol, I never plan stuff :D), which means I'll try to put more detail and include more information for the OC's... like really, John and Jeffry don't even have a last name... gg. With more detail being( or not) done for the characters and storyline, the chapters will take longer to come out.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	20. Chapter 20: Wakey Wakey Time

As Celestia's Sun rose into the sky, it's warming rays shined through the windows. I yawned as I rolled over to my side and suddenly dropped off the side of the bed, landing hard on the wooden floor with a hard thud. Opening my eyes, I looked up at the ceiling.

"I landed on something...", I mumbled as I raised myself up a little and reached underneath me.

Bringing whatever I had landed on to my face, I dangled it above me as I looked at it, it was the pendent that I had made for Twilight, before the time I died. Was it on the floor, or did I have it in a back packet on my pants? Clenching it in my hand, I sighed and cast the thoughts aside and placed my hand on the side of the bed and used it to give myself something to use as a support when I got back up. Resting both of my arms on the mattress, my chin on the bed as I looked at the sleeping mare. She looked so peaceful. Smiling, I chuckled lightly and stood up and sat down on the sit of the bed. Looking at my hand, I uncurled my fingers and looked at the pendent. Sliding the chain underneath her mane, I quickly pulled it down and slid the pendant over her neck and then got up from the bed and stepped away. Touching the gem, I used some of my magic on the pendent and charged up the gem slightly.

Reaching for a pencil that was lying on the nightstand beside the bed, I threw it at Twilight with full force I would use when swinging my sword at an enemy. Instead of hitting Twilight, the pencil shattered into splinters of wood.

"I promised to protect you... I won't let anyone or anything else take you away again", I whispered as I stroked her mane as I smiled.

Getting up from the bed, I opened the top drawer of the nightstand and looked inside.

'_Huh, maybe I shouldn't have used that pencil as a test subject_', I thought as I pushed the drawer back in.

Walking over to the desk in the far corner of the room, I grabbed a pencil and tore a slip of paper from a notepad that was on the desk. I wrote down some words as I walked towards the bedroom door.

'_Twilight, I'm going to Sweet Apple Acre's and then to Fluttershy's cottage, I want to check up on her and Chipper with John. I'll bring John to Rarity's boutique afterward with those two to get our clothes ready for the wedding,_

_Jeffry_', I finished off the last of the note, having to shrink down the last few words to fit every last word onto the somewhat tiny piece of paper.

Walking up to the door, I used my magic to form a small pin and stabbed it through the slip of paper and onto the door. Turning around, I flicked the pencil out of my hands and towards the table, it landed in a pencil holder that was really just a mug with pencils, quails, and pens in it. Slowly opening the door, I slid through the small opening of the door and then slowly closed the door. I didn't want to wake up Twilight just yet, she looked far too peaceful in her sleep, and she didn't get much rest during our little encounter with those snakes. In the ruins, we were running like mad when those snakes came out of no where. Seriously, snakes with arms, this world has weird written all over it.

Making my way down the stairs, I looked over myself briefly in the small mirror that hung by the front door. Stroking my hair a little to flatten the bits of hair that I had sticking out and about at several spots on my head. Seeing as my hair wouldn't be that easy to fix, I left a few bits as is and pushed the door open and was then greeted by the Sun's warming rays. Letting out a loud moan as I stretched, I smiled up at the sky and then turned around and close the door behind me. Turning around again, I started to make my way down the street and towards Sweet Apple Acre's. Get John, go to Fluttershy's place, and then Rarity's boutique to place an order for come clothing for the wedding. Nothing else came to mind other than those minor tasks before we went to Shining Armor's wedding. Wedding... could Twilight and I get married if we wanted too?

~Applejack's Room~

I yawned lightly as I covered my mouth as I did. I suddenly felt the bed beginning to bounce slightly as a certain filly bounced onto the bed.

"Applebloom. Please, your sister's still sleeping", I said as I placed my hand on the apple farmers neck.

"Not anymore Ah'm not", Applejack yawned as she was awakened by Applebloom's hopping.

Applejack had her head on my chest as we slept in her bed.

"Aw, come on ya'll. John, ya' never played with me in ah long time", Applebloom said as she crawled under the blanket and crawled her way underneath the blanket and towards the head of the bed.

"Yeah, but your sister and I have some things to get done for tomorrow", I said as I raised one of my hands and positioned it over the spot in front of the head of the blanket.

Applebloom popped out of the blankets, her nose bumping straight into my finger, earning a giggle from the filly.

"Can Ah help with yer work?" Applebloom asked as she backed into the blanket and pulled the blanket over her head, only her mouth could be seen.

"Hmm, maybe you can. I'm not sure, but I'll see if there's anything you can help with later on", I said as I flicked her nose.

"Okay, Ah'ma sleep here till ya'll tell me somethin' to help ya'll with", Applebloom said as she smiled greatly.

"But I've got to get out of bed to actually do what I need to do", I said as I looked down at my chest, where the little filly was lying on.

"Nope, Ah'm stayin' rahgt here", she said as she stuck her tongue out to the side, the blanket still on her head.

"John! Jeffry's here to get'cha", Big Mac shouted from the living room.

"I'll be right down!" I shouted back.

"Come on, lil sis. John's got things to do, and so do I", Applejack yawned as she scooped up her sister and laid her down next to her.

Getting out of bed, I walked towards the bedroom door and left the two on the bed, Applejack would most likely come down on her own or I'll just come get her later. Going down the stairs, I saw Jeffry looking at some pictures that were hanging from the wall.

"Yo, Jeff. What are we doing today?" I asked as I yawned.

"First I wanted to go check up on Fluttershy and Chipper, Fluttershy's was out for a long time and I wanna know if she's okay", Jeffry said as he turned away from the pictures.

"Okay, wait, why would you need me to come along?" I asked as I scratched my head at his plan.

"Well, after we go to Fluttershy's place, we're going to go to Rarity's boutique with them and meet up with Twilight to place an order for some clothes for the wedding", Jeffry said.

"Oh, I'll go get Applejack then", I said as I turned around and went back up the stairs.

"Applejack", I called out to the apple farmer as I reached the bedroom door and looked in.

"Ah'm ah comin' just hold yer horses", I heard her yawn as she slid out of bed.

'_Hold your horses? Ha_', I thought as I watched as Applejack walked past me, her hat was still on the bed.

Clapping my hands, I teleported Applejack's hat onto her head and followed her down the stairs and into the living room. Jeffry motioned for us to follow him out the door.

*P.O.V. Change: Jeffry*

"You know you two should propablly fix your hair before we go over to Rarity's after we get Fluttershy and Chipper. You're going to give her a heart attack with your looks", I grinned as I looked at the two.

"Yeah, yeah, we know", John said as he let out another loud yawn.

Walking down the rows of apple trees, the two started to fix their hair as best as they could without anything to help with it. Walking through the gate, I held it open for the two of them as they continued to mess with their own hair and walked through the gate. Removing my hand from the gate it swung close on it's own and I then walked behind the two of them. Suddenly, a familiar colt came trotting out of the trees at the top of the hill that was in front of Sweet Apple Acre's.

"Is that you, Silver Streak?" I laughed as the colt in armor trotted towards us.

"Jeffry! I still can't believe that you're alive! How have you been?" He asked.

"I'm alive, that's one this", I laughed.

"I can see that", he laughed back as he followed us down the dirt path.

"So, I see that you've joined the Royal Guard, is everypony treating you okay?" I asked as I folded my arms behind my back.

"Well, I'm still too young to officially be part of the Royal Guard, but I do minor jobs like scouting and message carrying, just little things", Silver Streak said as he moved his head from side to side as he named his tasks.

"Makes sense for somepony your age... still it's rather rash for ponies as young as yourself to join the Royal Guard. Hey, if you're here, that means you've got something to do, right?" I asked , my question suddenly made his ears perk up.

"Oh yeah! I forgot. I've got a message for you, it's from Princess Celestia. She said for any of the Royal Guard that sees you or John to tell you this. The wedding is to be held tomorrow", he said.

"I know that, Shining Armor told us yesterday", I said as Fluttershy's cottage came into view, just over the bend of the hill.

"There's more, look at Canterlot", he said as he pointed towards the city of Canterlot.

"What the heck!" I said as I raised an eyebrow as I looked at the city.

A giant bubble was surrounding the city.

"Is Canterlot under attack?" I quickly asked, John turned to look back at us and then at the city.

"No, but there has been a threat from an unknown enemy", he said as he reached for the collar of his armor and pulled out a slip of paper.

"This is just a wedding invitation that the Princess has been sending out to everypony, take it. As for the city, an unknown threat has been issued from somepony or something, we do not know. Royal weddings do call in some unwanted visitors from time to time", he said.

"Okay, so what's the bubble thing for?" John asked as he finished with his hair, Applejack was still messing with hers.

"That's Captain Shining Armor's protection spell, he's been straining himself to keep that shield up in case of any sudden attacks", he said.

"Wow, that's a pretty big shield for him to make", I said as I looked back at the city.

"Princess Celestia had also asked the Royal Guard to tell you this. She would like you to come to the city to help in anyway possible to insure that the wedding is concluded successfully without any attack, if possible", he said.

"We'll get there by nightfall... or tomorrow, depending if we can get our errands done here", John said as he went over to Applejack and started to comb through her mane to try and flatten out the loose ends.

"John, this is serious. If Canterlot is going to be attacked, we can at lea- wait, I got an idea. Shield spell shield spell... let's see if this works", I said as I brought my palm up and started to charge up some magic.

Stopping my magic as a small shard of my magic became to form, I stuck it into Silver Streaks helmet and watched as his armor began to form black lines all over his armor. Waiting for the lines to fade, the others just looked at his armor as the lines finally faded. Reeling back my arm, I swung at him.

"Ah!" He exclaimed as he duck down, but my fist was already stopped.

They all watched as my fist was stopped by some sort of wall.

"Okay, Jeff, what the heck was that for?" John asked.

"Something I did for Twilight this morning, it's something I just tried. Now that I can see that it works, let's see if I can make one to shield an entire city", I said as I tensed up my body as I poured more of my magic into my palm.

"Jeffry! I forgot to tell you all this. The Gryphon King has learned of this threat and has mobilized his army several days in advance to get here a little after the wedding. The news spread to his Kingdom and won't be able to stop an attack if it is launched before the wedding starts, but will be able to halt any further push from a possible attack after the time of the planned wedding", he said as I continued to form the crystal.

"Sweet! We get to see Might Beak again", John laughed.

"Okay, this should do it", I exhaled as sweat beaded down my forehead.

In my hand was a large smooth orb that glowed with my magic. Just making this was making me feel tired.

"Um, how do I use that and how do I bring that back?" Silver said awkwardly as he looked at the orb.

"Hmm, I'm going to place this on your back and then teleport you to Canterlot. Bring it to Shining Armor and just tell him to touch it with is protection spell, it should work... somehow", I shrugged as I placed the glowing orb on his back.

"Will do, General", he smiled as he saluted me with his hoof.

"Don't call me General, and see ya later", I rolled my eyes as I snapped my fingers and he teleported away.

Stepping up to Fluttershy's doorstep, John knocked on the door, just as Applejack finished fixing up her man so that it no longer looked like a birds nest. After a minute of waiting, John turned and looked at us and then knocked again, but earned no response. Knocking on the door again, the door creaked inward.

"Uh, should we go in?" John asked as he pushed the door open with his finger.

"It would be might rude of us to do so, but we only got one day to get preperations done before we all head off to Shinin's wedding", Applejack said as she tipped her hat up.

"Okay, then we'll go in", I said as I stepped past them and pushed the door open.

The others followed in, into the dark and quiet living room. All the lights were off and the curtains were closed too.

"Ah'll check the first floor, ya'll go check upstairs if she's here or not", Applejack said as she closed the door with her hind leg and trotted down the middle of the living room and into the kitchen.

John and I climbed up the stairs and walked down the hallway. I opened the first door to the left, while as John opened the first door to the right. The room I looked into was a bathroom, John's room was a storage closet of some sorts. Towels, bottles of some sort of cleaning product, a bag, and a bunch of other random items came crashing out of the closet and fell on John.

"Nice hat, John", I said plainly as he took the hat off that had fallen on his head, and chucked it back into the closet.

"I'll clean this up, you go look into the other rooms", John said as he used his magic to lift up all of the objects and began to place them back into the closet.

Walking down the hall again, I pushed open another door and looked inside and saw a warming sight. Chipper and Fluttershy were arm in arm... or leg in leg on the bed, cuddling one another as they slept, I can see how they wouldn't be able to wake up from this. Applejack trotted up the stairs and went past John as he continued to place the last of the things into the closet and came straight towards me. Just as the apple farmer was about to say something, I covered her mouth with my hand and then pointed into the room with my other hand. She smiled.

"Well Ah'll be", Applejack whispered as she placed her hoof on my wrist and lowered my hand from her mouth.

"What?" John whispered as he leaned to the side to look into the room.

"Huh, first they were our enemies, then one of them is our friend, and then he's in a relationship with the ponies he used to kidnap... this world is getting weirder as time goes by", John said as he turned around and walked towards the stairs.

"I feel bad for doing this, but we've got to get to Rarity's boutique to get our clothes ready for the wedding", I sighed as I walked into the room.

Reaching the bedside, I reached down to shake them awake, but Fluttershy suddenly shot up her hoof and struck me under the chin. Falling backwards onto my back, I rolled around as I held onto my chin.

"You okay, sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she leaned over me.

"Y-yeah, she's strong", I hissed as I continued to twitch from the pain.

"Ah'll wake'em up for ya'", Applejack said as she trotted closer to the bed and poked at Fluttershy.

"Come on ya'll, tahme to wake up", Applejack said as she poked the two of them.

Somehow, Applejack managed to wake the two of them without getting struck by Fluttershy in her sleep. The two of them sat up straight and looked down at me.

"Jeffry, why are you on the floor?" Chipper asked.

"Well, let's just say that Fluttershy has a heck of a punch", I laughed as I rubbed my chin.

"Come on ya'll, clothing don't make orders for themselves", Applejack said as she trotted out of the room.

"Huh?" Chipper said as he cocked his head to the side.

"We're going to get wedding clothes for Shining Armor's wedding tomorrow. And we need to get some new clothes, and you don't even have any. Come on, I bet Rarity would be excited to make clothing for a different species", I said as I got up.

"Oh, okay", Fluttershy said as she slid out of the bed and began to make the bed as Chipper got out of the bed too.

"Come on, we don't have all day", I said as I snapped my finger, my magic wrapping around her and bringing her over as she let out an 'eep'.

Going down the stairs, I released my magic from the pegasus and set her down at the front door and waited for Chipper to reach the door. Stepping out of the little cottage, we all walked down the dirt path that would lead back to the town.

* * *

**Chapter 20 is out :D Yay! Hopefully this reaches 30 chapters before it ends... or w/e. In case any of you guys haven't noticed, I'm 'sort of' following the shows series of events, only the ones like season finale and first episodes of the seasons. So it was Discord, then the Changelings, I might even decide to write more to the point it meets season three, the Crystal Empire. I wonder if I should write it... oh well.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	21. Chapter 21: Night before the Wedding

As we walked down the path to Ponyville, a group of skeleton ponies came out of the forest and came down the hill. We all looked at them as they walked across the path, they all stopped and looked a Chipper, and then started to go on their way again.

"Huh, guess those things still don't like you", John said as we walked down the path.

"It would seem. My kind did do a lot of bad things to the ponies", Chipper said.

"Hmm... don't you find it a bit odd?" I asked.

"What do you mean, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"Look", I pointed towards the forest.

Several skeleton ponies were coming out at various parts of the Everfree Forest. Turning around, I then pointed to the ones that had just walked past us.

"...Okay, I don't get it", John said.

"They're all going towards one direction", I said.

"Okay, so what?" John asked.

"They're all leaving the forest and they're all headed towards the direction of Canterlot", I pointed out.

"Huh?" John said as he and the others all turned towards the direction of Canterlot and watched as skeleton ponies continued to come out of the forest and slowly walk towards the city of Canterlot.

"Oh... why do you think they're doing that? And why now?" Chipper asked.

"I don't know... hopefully they don't do anything insane", I said as we resumed our walk down the path.

"Yeah, but still. With so many coming out of the forest, it's still a bit nerve wrecking", John said.

"It is. I'm surprised there are still this many left", I said as I turned around and began to walk backwards.

"There are quite a lot alive. Not a lot of them died in that last battle with the Changelings we had", John said.

"Mhmm", I said as I turned around and walked normally again.

~Living Room of the Library~

"Spike!" Make sure to lock the door behind you if you're planning to go outside today!" I shouted into the library.

"I know, Twilight!" Spike replied as he stuck her head out of the kitchen, a chefs hat on his head.

"And please don't make a mess of the kitchen", I said as I tucked my dress into my saddlebag, some of it was sticking out of my bag.

"Twilight, really. I've been making you breakfast a lot, when have I ever made a mess?" Spike asked as he waggled a wooden spoon at me, batter dripping everywhere.

"Right now", I smiled as I pointed at the spoon in his hand.

"Oh, heheh, sorry", he laughed slightly as he quickly went for a rag.

"Bye Spike!" I called out one final time before I pushed the door open.

"Bye Twilight!" Spike said as he wiped away the mess.

Stepping outside, I closed the door behind me and went on my way to Rarity's boutique. Jeffry had left a note for me, saying that he was going to go to Rarity's boutique with John, Applejack, Chipper, and Fluttershy. Seeing as we were going to get new clothes for the wedding, I decided it would be easier just to ask Rarity to fix up my old dress for the wedding, instead of spending so much time on making an entirely new dress. This is my brothers wedding, maybe I should get something better for the wedding, the dress I'm going to ask Rarity to fix up is pretty old. Maybe I'll ask Jeffry and the others on what they think I should do, Rarity would most likely try and persuade me to let her make me a new dress for my brothers wedding. Who was Shining getting married too anyways? He did mention her name, and she's a Princess too! Her name was rather long and quite frankly, a name that doesn't seem to be a name that you would hear often, or even hear of it at all. Whoever it was, I'm sure my brother would be happy with her.

Still, I wanted to know who she was. As I trotted down the early streets of Ponyville, ponies were already out of their homes and out and about doing their everyday thing. Venders had their shops setup, Big Mac had brought out a cart to sell apples.

"Hello, Big Mac", I said to the red stallion.

"Mornin' Twilight", Big Mac said.

"Morning to you too. You're selling apples in place of your sister, right?" I asked.

"Eeyup, sis is off gettin' her dress done fer the weddin' out in Canterlot. John went with her", Big Mac said as he rubbed his neck, I noticed that his neck had a bandage on it.

"Oh my, did you get hurt on the farm?" I asked.

"Somethin' like that, but don't worry 'bout me, Twilight. Just a little fight with John is all", Big Mac smiled.

"Did you two get into an argument?" I asked, John seemed like someone who would act like that at times.

"Nah, John came to our house at night, spoutin' somethin' 'bout marriage. Of course, John would be perfect fer mah sis, but Ah didn't want mah sis gettin' married without havin' them beat me in ah fight", Big Mac said.

"Oh, who won?" I asked, slightly surprised to hear this.

"John of course, he's stronger than two bulls plowin'; the fields", Big Mac smiled as he shook his head.

"So John and Applejack are getting married?" I asked, even more surprised.

"Nah, but he has my complete approval now. Granny Smith approved of this as well", he said.

"And Applebloom?" I asked.

"Are ya' kiddin', that little filly would be more than happy to have John as her brother in law", the apple farmer laughed a hearty laugh.

"I'm sure she would, John likes to spend time with her. I wonder why", I thought, Big Mac flinched a little.

"Well... let's just say that John has some history back in his world, Applebloom sorta reminds her of another little filly... or girl, in his world. That story ain't ah nice one", Big Mac sighed as he shook his head.

"Oh my, he's like Jeffry. They both have some sad history to them...", I said softly as we fell into silence, nothing but the sound of the other venders talking and moving about.

"Well, I need to get over to Rarity's to ask her if she can fix my dress for the wedding", I said in a cheery voice, in attempts to lighten the mood.

"Well alright then, take care!" He called out as I trotted away.

I sighed as I got out of reach from Big Mac's stall. John and Jeffry have lived through a great deal in their world, and the things they've have to do in this world. They've had to go on a hard mission to the Gryphon Kingdom, which I have no complete detail on, and they've had to kill countless Changelings in that fight. And in the ruins, they've come a long way with their magic, they're even stronger than I thought they would get. The burdens that had to carry, the things they've had to do in this world, is it really any better than their previous lives in their old world? And they're only here because of an accident I had with a summoning spell... are they truly happy?

Suddenly, I felt someone or something charge up behind me and lift me up.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed as I flailed my legs about, trying to break free.

"Ha ha, did I scare you?" I heard a voice say, it was Jeffry's.

"Jeffry! Don't scare me like that", I pouted as I looked at him.

"Looks like I did", Jeffry laughed as he lowered me.

"Come on, we've got things to do", John said as he pushed Jeffry towards the direction of Rarity's boutique.

Finally reaching Rarity's boutique, we pushed open the door and the bell at the top rang as we entered.

*P.O.V. Change: Twilight*

"Hi girls", Twilight said to the two that were already inside.

"Hiya, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounced out of no where.

"I see that Rainbow Dash isn't here", I said as I looked around the room

"Jeff, she's a Wonderbolt, remember? She's gotta stay in Canterlot most of the time", John said.

"Oh yeah", I said as I remembered that she was a Wonderbolt.

"Rarity, would you mind helping me with my dress? It's gotten a bit awkward now from sitting in the closet for so long", Twilight said as she used her mouth to pull off the button on the bag and lifted up the covering of the bag.

"Darling... you must be joking, I will not allow you to wear such a thing to your own brothers wedding. You need something new, something with style, something that simply sings", Rarity's voice began to grow more and more excited as she said each thing.

"Are you sure you can have a new dress done by then? This dress is more than eno-", Twilight stopped as Rarity placed her hoof on her friends mouth.

"Twilight, darling, please. This is the wedding of your brother, Captain of the Royal Guard, AND soon to be husband of a Princess, a Royal wedding. Something such as this old thing simply will not do", Rarity said as she poked at Twilight's saddlebag.

"Well- if you insist. But will you have it done before tomorrow? I'm sure you've got other orders to fill, too", Twilight said.

"I've denied all requests and orders for today. Today's all about you, my friends. And please, Twilight, this is Rarity you're speaking to. I'll have all your attire ready for tomorrows big day before Pinkie Pie can do something normal", Rarity boasted as she fluffed her mane.

"That's going to be a LONG time", John smirked.

Everypony in the room began to burst into a fit of laughter, all but myself and Chipper, who doesn't know about Pinkie's randomness.

"Yes, quite so. Still, not to worry my friends, I will have all of our clothing ready for the wedding", Rarity said as she trotted over to a checked shelf with rolls of fabric sticking out of it.

"What about Rainbow Dash?" John asked.

"Ah yes, I already have a design ready for her dress. I'll be making her a dress as well, though she wanted to wear her Wonderbolt uniform to the wedding", Rarity said.

Suddenly, a knock came from the door. Rarity placed the fabric she had taken out of the shelf and trotted over to the door and opened it.

"I'm very sorry, but I will not be taking orders for today or tomorrow", Rarity said as she opened the door all the way to reveal a pony in armor.

"I see, but Princess Celestia has asked me to place an order for her", the Guard said in a deep voice.

"The Princess? Well, I guess I can take her order", Rarity laughed awkwardly.

"The dress she would like to request, isn't for her, but for the Princess who is marrying Captain Shining Armor", he said as he took out an envelope from his saddlebag.

"A wedding dress?" Rarity gasped as she started to get all giddy.

"Yes, this letter contains the measurements for the Princess and requests for other needs for the wedding, all to be asked of your friends. Good day, madam", Rarity lifted the letter off of his hoof with her magic.

Before he left, he bowed his head towards John and myself and then trotted off. Suddenly, Rarity squealed.

"I can't believe it! A request from the Princess to make a wedding dress for a Princess!" Rarity squealed as she bounced on her hooves lightly.

"What does the letter say?" I asked.

"Ah yes, the measurements. The Guard also said it contains the needs for the wedding...", her voice calmed down as she used her magic to break the wax seal and open the letter.

"Oh my, there seems to be a task requested of most of us. Applejack, you've been asked if you could take care of the catering. Pinkie Pie, you've been asked to take care of the after party. I am to make the wedding dress. Fluttershy, you've been asked to have your song birds to play a song at the wedding. Twilight, you've been asked to make sure that everything goes according to plan", Rarity read through the areas of text that needed to be read.

"What about us?" John asked as he pointed at Chipper and at me.

"Hmm, it says that you're requested to provide additional protection to the city during the wedding", Rarity said as she lifted the letter up so that she could read the bottom of the letter.

"Oh, I've already done that. Guess we can do a little more while were at Canterlot", I said.

"Now that that's all said, I'll get to work on your clothing. Chipper, come with me. I still don't have your measurements", Rarity said as she used her magic to bring over a clipboard and a measuring tape, which she hung around her neck.

Chipper just looked around the room, giving us all a confused look. Fluttershy nudged him forward with her wing. He looked back at Fluttersrhy, who gave him a reassuring nod and smile.

"Come on now, I've never made clothes for a Changeling before, this will be fun", Rarity smiled as she trotted into the back room, bringing several rolls of fabric with her.

"So... what do we do while we wait for Rarity to finish with the clothes?" John asked as he picks up a fashion magazine from a table.

"We could always have some fun!" Pinkie Pie says as she pops in front of John, a party hat on her head.

"What kind of fun?" Twilight asked.

"How about a party?" Pinkie Pie suggests as she shakes her head violently, shaking the hat off of her head.

"But a party for what?" Fluttershy asked.

"A party... a party to celebrate Twilight for getting a sister in law!" Pinkie Pie said as she suddenly popped in front of Twilight, confetti shooting out from everywhere.

"Pinkie Pie, how do you do that?" John asked.

"Do what?" Pinkie Pie asked with the most innocent face.

"... actually, nevermind", John said.

"We can have a party with everypony, when Rarity is finished with our clothes. I wonder what she'll come up with this time", Twilight smiled as she looked at the door of the room that Rarity and Chipper went into.

"Whatever she makes, you'll look beautiful in whatever you wear", I smiled as I hung my arm around her shoulder.

"Applejack will look better than Twilight", John grinned as he closed the magazine and placed it back on the table.

"Are we seriously bringing this back out again?" I asked, sighing at him.

"You bet! Applejack will look the best!" John grinned some more.

"Twilight will!" I shout back at him.

"Fluttershy will look the best", Chipper said as he walked out of the room.

"Oh ho ho, another contestant to the most beautiful mare contest?" John grins evilly.

"You bet!" Chipper grins back at John.

"Boys, please. There's no point in seeing who will look the most beautiful", Twilight smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"She's right ya'll... cause Ah'll win this little contest anyways", Applejack grinned.

"Ha! The girls are getting into this as well", John grinned.

"We'll settle this with a fight! Whoever wins this fight, their marefriend will be considered the most beautiful!" John cheered as he turned towards Chipper and myself.

"You're on!" I grin.

"Right back at you two", Chipper grins as he grins menacingly.

"John, ya' better win!" Applejack cheers on John from their side of the room.

"Jeffry, you better win!" Twilight says the same as she cheers me on, even before the fight starts.

"C-Chipper, please win. Woo-hoo!" Fluttershy lets out a light cheer.

Suddenly, the door to the room that Rarity was in, slammed open.

"WILL YOU ALL BE QUIET! I'M TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!" Rarity shouted before she used her magic to slam the door close.

"... Wow, scary", I sweat as I backed away from the closed door.

"Not as scary as Princess Celestia and Luna's mother", Twilight pointed out.

We all shudder.

"Twilight, please don't mention Queen Eclipse anymore, she still gives me the chills", John said as sweat forms on his head.

"Yeah, let's just wait for Rarity to finish with our clothes", Fluttershy said, still shaking a little from Rarity's sudden shouting.

~Time Skip: 8 pm~

We were outside of Rarity's boutique and on our way to Sugarcube Corner to have a party to celebrate the fact that Twilight would be getting a sister in law. Rarity had already finished with our clothing for the wedding, but was still working on the wedding dress, which she says that only needs just a few minutes more of work. Putting aside that last few minutes of work to have some fun with us, she said she would just go back to her boutique to finish the wedding dress in the morning, we were going to leave for Canterlot at around 9 or so am. The streets were dark, but the lamps lit the streets as we all walked down the dark street to Sugarcube Corner. Arriving at the candy shaped store and house, we walked inside.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie. I was wondering where you were", Mrs. Cake said as she trotted out from behind the counter, a semi-large box rested on her back.

"Hiya, Mrs. Cake! Did you need me to do something for you?" Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced towards the baker.

"Ah yes, I finished a new type of chocolate. I came up with the idea when Miss Vinyl Scratch placed an order for something for her club. It's something I wanted somepony to try, but I couldn't think of anypony to try them. Maybe you and your little friends can try them for me?" She asked as she looked towards us, but leaped back slightly as she saw Chipper.

"Don't worry, he's with us", I quickly said, before any misunderstandings arose.

"Oh, sorry...", she said.

"Chipper, my name is Chipper. Sorry for startling you", Chipper says, Mrs. Cake relaxed slightly.

"It's quite alright", she said as she passes Pinkie Pie to the box.

"We'll be more than happy to taste these tasty treats for you, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie Pie says as she bounces up each step of the staircase.

"We're havin' a party anyways, wonder what they taste like", Applejack said as she trotted after the hopping pink mare.

"Ah, don't eat them if you can't stand alcohol", she warns before she disappears into the kitchen.

"... okay?" John says as we all went up the stairs.

~Time Skip: 11 pm~

We had our little party, and decided to end it with some of the chocolates that Mrs. Cake had asked us to try. Inside the box were chocolates wrapped in some sort of foil, each in the shape of a beer bottle? Apparently, they were chocolates that were hollow and had alcohol in it, I've had these before in jJff and my world before. Nothing out of the ordinary, but the alcohol did have a strong kick to it, but Chipper, Jeff, and I had no problems with it, but the girls on the other hand. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were out cold in one corner, can't believe Pinkie Pie would pass out from this stuff. Fluttershy was insanely drunk, but did nothing but forcefully pin Chipper down and cuddle with him, he was safe. Jeff and I, on the other hand...

"Jeff! Help me!" I shout as I pressed my back against the window sill.

"You handle yourself, I'm a little busy!" Jeffry shouts back at me as he rushes into a broom closet and shuts the door.

"Jeffry! Come out here, right now!" Twilight orders, her voice was slurred slightly.

"Come here, John", Applejack licks her lips as she creeps towards me, a devilish grin on her face.

"Applejack, I love you, but this is taking it a bit far", I sweat as I try to move away.

"Yer mine!" Applejack shouts as she leaps at me.

"Ah!" I shout as she rams into me, sending us out the window.

We landed on the bushes below. As I rubbed the back of my head, Applejack snored as she was now out cold from the alcoholic chocolates.

"Ow... my fucking head", I groan as I felt the lump I got from hitting the floor beneath the bush, I had fallen a bit further into the bush as I was heavier than Applejack.

"I should get us back upstairs... ah screw it', I groan as I closed my eyes and laid my head back.

* * *

**Hope you all liked this chapter :D I'll try and get another chapter out this weekend, sorry for not writing anything for a short while (I have no idea when I updated this last).**

**Please leave a Review!**


	22. Chapter 22: Odd?

~Dreamworld Again~

_I was once more in the room of darkness, nothing but the same round wooden table that sat in the middle of all of this unknown darkness. Seeing as I should get this over with, I walked over towards the table. My footsteps echoed as I took one step after another, each giving off a ' thunk thunk' sound. As I came closer and closer to the table, a similar window appeared to the side of the table, similar to the one I saw in my previous dream. Seeing as this wasn't going to be no different than any other dream, other than a different vision of sorts, I sat on the table and looked at the window as it suddenly turned gray and dropped to the floor, shattering into millions of pieces._

"_... Okay", I said as I scratched my head._

"_Hello, Jeffry", a voice said._

_Sighing, I turned around and saw that it was Shadow._

"_I thought you said I would never see you again, and this would be?' I motioned to his body._

"_Well, I thought I was going to die when you entered the ruins with me inside of your mind again", he said as he walked up to the table and bend down to sit, a chair suddenly appeared beneath him._

"_Exactly how were you going to die?" I asked as I got off the table and walked over to the mess on the black floor._

"_Well, you remember when you broke into that one room, you know, the room where your arms suddenly turned back to normal and John's stuff was made pretty much useless?" He asked as he pushed back, balancing on the chairs back legs._

"_Yeah?" I said as I thought back to that time._

"_Well, first time I went there, the magic isn't of the skeleton host I as in was drained to the point where I was about to die, but didn't. I was sure that once I returned your armor, removing my main defense against magic", he said as he rapped his fingers on the table._

"_Huh, guess you actually lived... why couldn't I bring out my armor while you had it?" I asked._

"_Two objects of your magic cannot exist more than once at a time", he said._

_Snapping my fingers, I formed two swords in my hands, and levitated two more by my side._

"_And how am I doing this then?" I asked, wagging one sword at him._

"_Armor and weapons react differently in their own numbers", he said as he let out a sigh and looked up into the dark ceiling of this world of darkness._

"_... Shadow, you seem odd. You're different than you usually act", I said, noticing that his speech was different and he seemed a bit depressed._

"_Something big is going to happen, more crap for you to deal with. The more stress you're under, the more I feel as well, but don't let my well-being get to you. I am you", he said as he slammed the chair onto all four legs._

"_Okay, but what do you mean about something big?" I asked._

"_Let this answer your question", he said as he placed his hand on the table top and swiped his hand through it._

_The table turned gray, the spot where he swiped his hand at, suddenly broke apart. The fragments of the broken table surface remained still in the air, like time was frozen around just the table itself. Suddenly, every part of the table broke apart and caved into itself, forming a round gray orb. Shadow placed his hand on its surface and gave it a spin and stood up from his chair, the chair disappeared._

"_Jeffry, your life will be filled with hardships, but remember. There's one thing in this world that will keep you on the right path", he said as he looked down at the orb._

"_And what's that?" I asked, curious as to what he means._

"_Twilight, she's the thing that keeps you going, isn't it? Trust her, protect her, and make her happy. In turn, she'll make you happy as well", he smiled as he gave the orb another spin._

"_Twilight... what do you mean?" I asked._

"_Keep her safe and make her happy, trust me. Happiness is one of the strongest things that you can have in the future you face", he said as he turned around and walked away._

"_Make her happy...", I said as I thought of what he meant, and exaclty how I could make Twilight truly happy._

_I raised my hand up and caught something that Shadow flicked at me from over his head. Looking down at my hand, I slowly opened my hand to see a plain gray ring, but it dispersed, like wind blowing away piles of ashes._

"_Make her happy. Be sure to watch the orb thing!" He shouted as he waved, his back still turned to me._

_I watched as his body suddenly broke apart like the ring did, leaving me alone in the darkness with the orb that he formed from the table. Looking back at my open hand, I thought of what he had flinged at me._

_'A ring... heh, I get it', I smiled as I realized what he meant._

_The orb suddenly flashed, light began to pulsate. Turning to the orb, I watched as it expanded. Suddenly, the orb expanded to the point where it engulfed my entire body in an instant. Shielding my eyes as the blinding light from within the orb shined brightly. After a short second, I slowly moved my arms away from my eyes. I was outside... and in front of what seems to be a cliff side with a very old looking mine entrance that led into the cliff side. Old mine carts and railing were everywhere, the tracks ended as grass covered the tracks. Walking up to the entrance, I saw that there was a old yellowish piece of paper that was stapled to a slab of wood that was hanging by the mine entrance. It seemed as if it was a map of the inside of the mine, it branched off at one point, leading to two places. Both of these two places were branching off a long ways down that led to a giant room of some sorts._

_Touching the other side of the map, that would be the other mine entrance, I felt myself being teleported. Looking around, I saw that I was in a different location, but still in front of a mine entrance. Walking into the mine, I looked in awe. Crystals were lining the walls, but what was even more amazing that a little further in the mine, a ledge led to a drop that wasn't lined by crystals, but covered in giant crystals._

_'Wait... crystals. This is the place I saw in my last dream... which means', I thought as I ran to the ledge and leaped over the edge and fell down into the large cavern. _

_The map was wrong, the entrance that I had entered lead to a giant cave that had another opening at the other side of this large cavern. Loud pounding sounds echoed off of the crystals as I ran towards the opening at the other side. Knowing that I couldn't get hurt in my dreams, I leaped into the opening without a single thought of taking it slow. My airtime didn't last long as I started to run down a spiraling track that wound downwards. Leaping off of the tracks, I fell down the middle of the giant drop. Landing hard on my feet, I heard more and more pounding. Looking around, I saw someone further in the cave._

"_Huh", I said as I walked forward, towards a shadowy figure._

_The shadowy figure was me! My arms were large and scaly, I was pounding away at a giant crystal wall of sorts. Walking forward some more, I walked straight past my dream self and placed my hand on the crystal, it went through. Seeing as my hand went through, I could go through with my entire body. As I entered another room, I saw a figure cowering in the corner, behind a small crystal mound. A crown of sorts shook on top of a multi-colored mane, that looked like a total mess, but I couldn't see anything else. Suddenly, everything went black._

~Pinkie Pie's Bedroom~

I bolted upwards, pieces of paper and other rubbish flew off of me as I catapulted the scrap off of me. Looking around, I saw that there was a broom closet of some sorts, that had a giant hole in one door and the other door seemed to be under me. On my lap was Twilight, she was sound asleep. Looking around the room, I saw that Pinkie Pie and Rarity were cuddled on top of several bags of... flour? While as in another corner, Fluttershy was hugging Chipper, both asleep as well I presume. But two were missing... John and Applejack didn't seem to be in the room. Looking towards the wall, I noticed that one of the windows was broken, shards of glass littered the window sill.

"Ugh...", Twilight groaned as she stirred awake.

"Morning, Twilight. I'm never letting you drink alcohol again... ever", I said as I placed my hand on her mane.

"Please do, that stuff that Mrs. Cake made was far too strong for me... and the girls. How come you don't feel like a pile of hay?" Twilight asked as she groggily stood up.

"No clue, but that stuff didn't seem to have any effect on Chipper, John, and myself... what happened after you broke down the broom closet's door? I forgot what happened", I said as I scratched my head.

"... Ugh, head hurts. Can't remember", Twilight groaned again as she leaned on the side of the toppled broom closet.

"... Um, Twilight... do I have something on my face?" I placed my hand on my face, I felt something slimey.

"Hmm?" She said as she turned to look at me.

"Oh, just some chocolate", she said as she rested her chin on the side of the broom closet and sat down.

"Huh, guess we made out or something... maybe you should finish eating your chocolate before you slobber me to the point I pass out", I laugh as I grabbed a towel from a rack that was hanging on one side only.

"*Pained Giggle* Sorry about that, Jeffry", the unicorn turned over and rested her back on my side.

"I don't really mind. At least I didn't end up like the others. Chipper's getting cuddled to death, Rarity and Pinkie Pie as sleeping like children at a daycare... John and Applejack... are somewhere", I stared at the broken window, there were hardly any glass on the floor, just by the bottom of the window and outside of the windowsill.

"Where are those two anyway?" Twilight asked as she turned her head and plopped her chin on my lap.

Suddenly, the door to Pinkie's bedroom swung open, slamming against the wall. The loud sound of the door slamming against the wall woke up the sleeping ponies and Changeling that were once asleep. John and Applejack walked into the room, John then fell face first onto the floor.

"John, you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah... I think I still have glass on my back though", John grumbled.

"Wait, you fell out the window?" Twilight and I looked at the broken window.

"Yeah, Applejack football tackled me out the window", John said as he turned his head to the side.

"Oh my, what happened in here?" Mrs. Cake said as she suddenly appeared at the doorway.

"Mrs. Cake, I suggest you NEVER make those chocolates again", I said as I helped Twilight onto her hooves.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Well... look around", I gestured to the ruined room.

"I see... maybe I should put less alcohol in them next time", she said.

"If you want, just don't make anymore of those things, unless you want to cause a destruction of this room to expand to the town. Thank god, John and I didn't get drunk like they did", I laughed, but slowly started to laugh awkwardly as I thought what would have happened if John and I had gotten drunk like they did.

"Yes. Um, I came up here to tell all of you that there's a carriage outside. They said that Princess Celestia had sent them to pick you up", Mrs. Cake said before she trotted away from the doorway and down the hall.

"Oh yeah, the wedding", Twilight wobbled towards the door.

"Is it a good idea to go to the wedding like this? You're all still a bit tipsy, from the looks of it", I said as I looked around the room.

"The wedding! My goodness, I still haven't completed the dress yet!" Rarity suddenly sat up, flipping Pinkie Pie over in the process.

"It's okay, it's not like the wedding will start right away, you'll have plenty of time to finish it at Canterlot", Twilight said as she left the room.

"I'll go get it for you", I said as I snapped my fingers.

Teleporting out of the messy room, I reappeared in the backroom of Rarity's boutique. Looking around, I saw that there were dresses, suits, unfinished dresses, and piles of jewelry that piled near the back of a small gem embed box. Something caught my attention as I walked towards the box. Picking up a ring from the box, I saw that it was similar to the one Shadow had flung towards me in my dream.

'_Make Twilight happy..._', I smiled as I placed the ring back into the box.

Going back to the task at hand, I looked around and saw nothing but dresses upon dress, suit upon suits, and lines of fabric resting on pony mannequins. Finally spotting several mannequins in the far corner of the room, dresses were mounted on them. A somewhat finished wedding dress was at the far right of the line of mannequins, a suit also laid to the left of it, most likely for Chipper. Using my magic, I gently removed the dresses from the mannequins and looked around for the suits that Rarity made for John and I. Finally spotting them on the wall by the table with the pile of mess on it, they were hanging from a coat hanger, covered in plastic. A gleam of light shined off of the ring as the sun hit it with it's warming rays. Smiling, I teleported out of Rarity's boutique and reappeared in front of Sugarcube Corner.

"Took you long enough", John said as he hung his arm over the side of the carriage.

"Sorry, I got caught up with something in Rarity's boutique", I gently placed the dresses down on a bench as I entered the carriage.

"Yes, of course. It's quite hard to keep track of what you're doing when ones attention is being drawn in by my beautiful creations", Rarity boasted as she rubbed her hoof on her chest.

"Yeah, I would get caught up by these too. It's hard to tell what's different about them", John said as he looked at the similar dresses, all similar to one another.

"Come on, let's get going. We'll want to get there as early as possible so that Rarity can have some time to finish the dress", I said as I rapped my fist against the carriages side.

The pegasi Guards upfront neighed as they lurched forward, pulling the carriage forward with them. As we took off, the wind wasn't harsh, but soft. Removing my magic from the dresses and suits that I had brought out from Rarity's boutique, I laid back. Rarity trotted over and neatly folded the dresses, but kept the unfinished wedding dress as is.

"I do hope that there's sewing equipment in Canterlot, I wouldn't want to disappoint the Princess", Rarity said as she smoothed out the folds of the dress.

"Maybe one of the maids have some of the things you might need", John said.

"Maybe...", Rarity said as she folded the dress and placed it in a corner to protect it from the wind.

Suddenly, a loud exploding sound came from Canterlot. A black veil started to creep up from the bottom of the large bubble like shield that was already around Canterlot.

"What's going on?" Twilight gasped.

"Don't worry, it's Shining Armor. He's using the thing I gave to Silver Streak", I said.

"Oh, but what is it?" She asked.

"Think of it as a second shield for Shining's shield. It'll take some of the stress off of his spell", I said as we watched as the black veil completely encased the shield Shining had made.

'_Hmm, what did Shadow mean? Does it have something to do about something trying to take over Canterlot... wait a second. The Changeling Queen said she had 'conquering' to do... maybe it's her who wants to attack Canterlot? I'll keep an eye out for her_', I thought as we came closer and closer to the city.

~Time Skip: Couple of Minutes~

After several minutes of flying, we finally arrived at the city. When we passed through the shields that Shining and I had set up, it felt weird, going through your own magic. The carriage landed and we got off of the carriage. We were in a giant hanger area of some sorts, similar to the one where John and I first came into the first time we arrived in this world. From the side of the hanger, Shining Armor walked towards us.

"Hey there, Twily!" Shining Armor called out as he trotted towards us.

"BBBFF!" Twilight exclaimed as she gave him a hug as he came within reach.

"Jeez, we just saw him a day or two ago, not a year", John joked as he sat on the steps of the carriage.

"Can't a sister be happy to see her brother?" Twilight looked at John, who just shrugged.

"So, Shining. I wanted to know, who is this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, are you sure you don't remember her?" Shining chuckled as he ruffled the top of her mane.

"Should I?" Twilight asked as she cocked her head to the side.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is Cadence, your foul sitter. Remember?" Shining chuckled again as he stopped ruffling his sisters mane.

"Wait, Princess Cadence? Thee best foul sitter in the history of foul sitters?" Twilight asked, her voice filled with cheer.

"*Chuckle* You ask me, she was YOUR foul sitter", Shining said.

"Did somepony say my name?" A voice said as a familiar mare trotted towards us.

She wore a crown upon her multi-colored mane, her coat was a pink color, somewhat similar to Pinkie Pie's coat. She bore an annoyed look upon her face as well.

"Cadence!" Twilight exclaimed as she zipped in front of said Princess.

"Sunshine, sunshine. Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" Twilight chanted a little song as she did a little dance.

"... Okay, and you are?" Cadence said in an annoyed tone.

"Huh?" Twilight said as Cadence trotted over to Shining Armor's side.

"Well, I'll let you two catch up. I've got things to attend to. Bye", Shining said as he trotted away and disappeared into a doorway.

"So, you ponies will be handling the chores for the wedding?" Cadence asked with a brow raised.

"Yes, yes we are", Rarity said cheerfully as she brought over the unfinished wedding dress to the Princess.

"And what is this mess?" Cadence said as she practically spat out those words.

"This is your wedding dress, of course it isn't finished. But with some sewing equipment and some more fabric, I will have it completed in no time at all, your highness", Rarity said.

Princess Cadence looked at the dress and poked at it with her hoof.

"Hmm, no, this won't do. I don't like the design. Remake this from scratch, and with a different design", Cadence said as she turned around and tossed her head back.

"Um, i-. Yes, your highness", Rarity stuttered as she looked at the Princess and then at the dress.

"This isn't like Cadence, she's usually happy and cheerful. She didn't even seem to recognize me...", Twilight placed her hoof on her chin as she pondered the thoughts of what might be wrong.

"Damn... she's a bitch", John said.

We all turned to look at him.

"What? I'm not the only one thinking this, right?" John said in defence.

"Well... she sort of is being a 'sore thumb'. She's probably acting like this because she's going to get married soon", I said.

"Hmm, maybe", John said.

"If you all will excuse me, I will be on my way to find someplace where there are some supplies for me to use", Rarity said as she tossed the unwanted dress into the carriage.

"Ma'am, there has been a room made ready for you. Princess Celestia has set up the room for the purpose of the dress making, in case sudden events had occurred in Ponyville to prevent you from making the wedding dress for the Princess. I will escort you to the room", a Guard said in a hard tone.

"Ah, why thank you. I'll see you all later", Rarity said as she followed the Guard towards a flight of stairs.

We all waved goodbye as Rarity disappeared behind a corner with the Guard. One by one, the others left to get their share of work done for the wedding, leaving Chipper, John, Twilight, and myself in the hanger. This was strange, how come the mare I saw in the mines that were in my dreams, out here? Something was off. Well, my dreams weren't always true.

"Come on, Jeff. Chipper and I are going into the city to look around, wanna join us?" John said.

"Uh, sure", I said.

"Don't worry about me, Jeffry. I'm going to go find Shining, I want to ask him a few things", Twilight said as she galloped towards the doorway that her brother had gone through.

John clapped his hands and we reappeared in a random spot in the city. The streets were filled with ponies wearing clothing and with well styled manes and tails.

"Jeff, did I accidentally teleport us into the 1950's of this pony world?" John asked.

"Ehh, I don't think so", I said.

"Whatever. Come on! We've got time to kill before the wedding starts... whenever the hell that would be", John said.

"Yeah, let's go", I said softly as I followed John and Chipper down the street.

'_I'll go talk to Princess Celestia about this mine I saw in my dream, maybe it was somewhere around Canterlot_', I thought as I followed the two.

* * *

**Yay, finally finished this :D About my previous question, I made up my mind. I will not be writing a season 3 portion of this fanfiction. Going to end it with season 2. Hope you all liked this chapter!**

**Please leave a Review!**


	23. Chapter 23: She's Mean

As we walked down the streets, we were getting weird looks from all of these high-class ponies. Most likely because of me and Chipper. Chipper being a Changeling, and me for what I didn't really do in the past, but I still technacially did.

"Yo, Jeff. Take a look at this", John said as he pointed at a shop window.

Inside the display were jewelry.

"Um, why are you interested in jewelry?" I asked.

"I was thinking I should buy Applejack something", he said.

"Then why don't you?" I asked as I looked back at the window display.

Suddenly, a pony with a eye piece on his eye trotted up to the window from within the shop, he tapped on the glass and pointed towards the door. John and I looked at each other and shrugged. Walking into the store, we were greeted by the stallion who motioned for us to come into the shop.

"Greetings, General John and General Jeffry. I see you have taken interest in my little shop", he said in a hyped voice.

"Uh, you told us to come into the shop", I said.

"*Loud Laugh* So it seems. Well, now that you're here. Why don't you take a look around? Maybe you'll find something you would like to buy,. For somepony special perhaps?" He said with a smile.

"We'd love to, but none of us have any bits, nor have we earned any yet... John, did we ever get paid yet?" John shrugged to my question.

"Not to worry. Choose what you'd like and I'll bill the Princesses", he laughed as he trotted to one corner of the room and went around the counter and took his place behind it.

John and I looked at one another and shrugged. Guess this was one way of having the Princesses pay us for our mission in the Gryphon Kingdom. John and Chipper went over to the window display we were looking at and began to look through the glass to see if they would buy any. Not like Chipper would be buying anything, maybe for Fluttershy, but John would most likely spend a lot. Knowing him, he might even spend so much that he could make the Princesses themselves poor. Slowly walking towards one of the many glass counters, I gazed at the selection of rings, earrings, pendents, even a freaking crown was inside one of these. Suddenly, I stopped as I looked at several silver and gold rings that had nothing embed in them, they were nothing more than a simple band of silver or gold.

"See anything you like?" The store owner said.

"Not sure, but I do have a question. Are these supposed to look like that?" I pointed at the rows of plain gold and silver rings.

"No, but ponies can buy these as is. Or place an order for a certain gem of their choosing to be embed into the band. In case they do not like the company designs that have already been made", he said as he took a key from around his neck.

"Huh... what kind of gems do you have?" I asked as he lowered the key to behind the wooden backing of the counter and slid it into something.

"Look over there, that'll answer your question", he smiled as he pointed to the right, a clunking sound came as he unlocked the wooden door to the counter.

Taking a step to the right, I saw that there were gems upon gems, Rarity wouldn't survive this place, that's for sure. I smiled as I looked down at the Amethyst. Their color reminded me of Twilight, of her purple coat.

"Um... what's your name?" I asked.

"Everypony that knows me, calls me Clink. I don't know why, but I somehow earned the name", he laughed.

"Well, Clink. I think I will place an order", I smiled as I tapped the spot on the glass where the Amethyst laid underneaeth.

"I gotcha", he said as he took out several sized Amethyst.

"And what kind of ring would you like?" He asked.

"... Silver", I said.

"Okay, any specific design?" He asked.

"I'll leave that to you", I smiled, he smiled back.

"I'll make sure this ring is fit for a Princess by the time I'm done with it. Just give me a minute or two", he said as he placed the gems and a plain silver ring on a black board and carried it by it's black handle.

"Hey, Jeff. Did you order something?" John asked.

"Yeah", I said as I turned around to look at him.

"What did ya' buy?" Chipper asked.

"Just a little something for the future", I smiled to them as they looked at me with a confused looked.

A few seconds later, Clink came out from the backroom with a ring with the Amethyst's embed to the ring, it looked amazing. He also had a book of some sorts that rested on his back. The others had already left the store, John didn't get anything, but said that he might buy a ring for Applejack when the wedding was over. Clink opened the book and flipped through the pages and slid the book and the ring towards me, I noticed that there were actually two similar rings, but Amethyst wasn't the only gem embed into the ring. Tiny diamonds and other white gems were on it too, but not too crowded, they looked amazing.

"Hey, what's this book for? And why are there two rings?" I asked.

He smiled and tapped a picture of a ring design and then trotted away. I watched him as he walked up to the cashier and pulled out a notepad and quail and began to write something down, most likely the bill for the ring. Looking down at the picture he was tapping on, I smiled.

'_Ring Design M-7, "Engagement Ring(s)_', I read the text below the picture and looked down at the rings that were on the black paddle.

'_Make Twilight happy... I get it now, Shadow. I get it_', I smiled as I thought to myself.

"Bye, Clink!" I said as I took the rings and walked towards the door.

"Oh, forgot about these", he said as he tossed two small square boxes.

"They're for the rings", he waved me goodbye, I waved back.

Opening both of the small boxes, I slid the two rings into each of the boxes and slid the boxes into my pocket. I made sure to put them in gently, so that I wouldn't accidentally crush them while walking, my pants were a bit tight on the sides. John and Chipper were looking at me as I exited the jewelry store.

"So, you done with your shopping?" John asked.

"Yeah", I smiled.

"Come on, I bet there are some interesting places to check out", John said.

"Uh, actually. I'm going to go talk to Princess Celestia about something. Why don't you two check up on the girls?" I said.

"Okay, sure. What are you going to ask her?" John asked.

"Just somethings I've had on my _mind_ lately. Bye", I said as I snapped my fingers and teleported out of the streets and into the hallway outside of Celestia's room.

Ignoring the Guards, I pushed open the doors and shut the immediately as I entered the room.

"Oh, Jeffry. Aren't you with the girls?" Celestia said from a table, a floating quail was by her side as it was held up by her magic.

"Yeah, but their going to do their part for the wedding on their own, John might help them, but I have a question I want to ask you", I said as I walked closer to her.

"Oh, okay. What might your question be?" She set her quail down and turned towards me completely.

"I want to know if there is a mine of some sorts in Canterlot", I asked, Celestia's ears perked a little at my question.

"Yes, there is a mine underneath Canterlot, but it has been abandoned and long forgotten, how did you know if it?" Celestia asked.

"Uh, I heard something from a jewelry store owner saying that he needed to get more gems, but his latest shipment never arrived", I lied.

"I see. Well, anything else you would like to ask me?" Celestia asked.

"No. I only had that question, thanks", I said as I walked towards the balcony window.

"Oh, wait. Tell John and the others this for me when you see them, please. Tell them that the wedding has been moved to tomorrow", Celestia said as she turned around.

"Okay, but why did it get moved?" I asked as I turned around and pushed the doors open as I walked backwards.

"Well, scouts have reported seeing Changelings within the area below the cliffs of Canterlot, we would like to secure the city to prevent any Changeling attacks during the wedding", Celestia said as she picked up her quail and began to write.

"Changelings... *Sigh* Got it", I said as I formed my wings and closed the doors with them.

Stepping onto the railing, I let myself drop as I stepped over the edge. Quickly opening my wings, I banked to the left and flew alongside the outer walls of the castle tower. The city came into view again as I flew towards it. Shrinking down my wings, I fell faster towards the ground. With a loud thud, I landed on the ground, cracking the stone floor a little. The well dressed ponies around me shook as the ground itself shook from the force of my landing, I was surprised that my legs didn't shatter from the impact. Ignoring the prying eyes of the ponies, I looked around.

'_Oh great, I have no idea on how to find them_', I sighed as I walked down the streets, hands on my pockets.

I smiled as I felt the lumps in my pockets, the rings were snug in my pockets.

~Somewhere That Twilight is At~

I trotted towards the building that I was told my brother had go in. I had spent the last few minutes trying to find Shining, I asked around if they saw him. The ponies I had asked had also said that they saw Cadence with Shining as they went into the building. Trotting up the steps, I was greeted by the Guards that were under my brothers command, but they knew who I was and let me through. Knocking on the door, I wait for a response.

"Come in", I heard Cadence say.

Pushing the door open, I walked in and shut the door behind me as I entered.

"Twilight, what are you doing here?" My brother asked, he was fiddling with his clothes that he had on, Cadence was laying down on a couch.

"I wanted to speak to you about something", I said as I trotted towards him.

"Ugh, sure. Hold on a minute", my brother groaned as he placed his hoof on the side of his head.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Just a headache. I've been getting them for a while now, putting up this shield for the city is hard to do", Shining said.

"Here, let me help you with that, dear", Cadence said as she got off of the couch and trotted over to us.

Cadence's horn glowed a green color, my brothers eyes soon followed suit. This was odd, Cadence's magic gave off a feeling of love when you were near her when she used it. The color was off as well, it wasn't supposed to be green. Of course her magic could have evolved, like any other unicorn or Alicorn, but his was far different from evolving magic. The feeling of her magic was completely different, something was really wrong with her. Was she really Cadence?

"Thanks, dear", Shining gave her a weak smile as he cracked one eye open.

"Not at all", she smiled, but frowned when she looked down at me and then trotted back towards the couch.

"Okay. Twilight, what did you want to talk to me about?" Shining said, but I was already making my way for the door.

"Nevermind that. I'm going to find my friends now", I said as I trotted out the door.

*P.O.V. Change: Shining*

"Wait, Twilight", I called out, but my sister had already left the room.

"*Sigh* I didn't get to tell her that the wedding's tomorrow. Maybe her friends will tell her, but they don't know about that either... oh well", I said as I trotted towards a tall mirror to look myself over.

~A Bakery~

"Come on ya'll, Ah want these treats here ready fer the weddin'!" Applejack shouted out into the large kitchen.

Applejack had been asked to make the food for the wedding, and was given several other bakers for her to use to assist her in the baking. And she was doing a pretty damn good job at ordering them around, the kitchen was busier than a school full of kids that were trying to go home on a friday. To get out of her way, Chipper and I sat by the door to the bakery. Fluttershy was in the room that Rarity was working on the dress in, Rarity didn't mind the music that Fluttershy's bird made. I was still wondering on how the hell Fluttershy is able to do that with animals. We still haven't seen Rainbow Dash though, guess she must have been assigned some protecting assignment from the Princesses, seeing a there's a giant shield around the city. The door opened and in came Twilight and Jeffry.

"Oh look, we found you guys", Jeffry said as he closed the door behind them.

*P.O.V. Change: Jeffry*

Twilight and I had finally found them. I found Twilight walking around the streets shortly after I had landed, she bore the expression of someone who was deep in thought about something. After asking several of the hundreds of Guards that were roaming around the buildings, we finally found a Guard who knew where the others were, and here we are. I lifted my arm in front of Twilight and moved her back a little as a baker rushed by with a tray in her mouth, pastries were on it.

"Applejack, I have a question", I said as I moved to the left as a bakers rushed outside.

"Okay. What'cha wanna ask me, Jeffry?" Applejack asked as she wiped her brow, not stopping with what she was doing.

"Princess Celestia said that the wedding has been pushed back to tomorrow", I said, this didn't seem to make the apple farmer slow down one bit.

"Thanks fer the heads up, Ah think we'll have these treats ready fer the weddin' fer sure now!" Appplejack wooped as she and the other bakers let out a cheer.

The doors suddenly opened again, hitting Twilight and myself on our rear ends as the door swung open without a single care for anyone behind it. In came the Princess that Twilight's brother was going to marry, Princess Grumpy, is a more suiting name for her. Well, not like she can help it, this is her wedding of course, but my dream still boggled my mind. How could she be here while she was in that crystal cave in my dreams? At least I made sure to ask Celestia about the mines, all there is left is to find the mines, maybe I'll do it first thing in the morning.

"Does anypony know where I can find the pony in charge of my wedding dress? I can't seem to find that mare anywhere", Princess Cadence said as she looked around the bakery, the bakers still going around with great haste.

"Ah don't know where Rarity is, but since yer here, why don't ya' give these ah try, Princess?" Applejack said as she trotted over to the Princess with a silver platter with several tarts of some sort on the platter.

The Princess eyed the treats. Finally, after what seemed to be minutes of nothing, her horn glowed as she used her magic to lift up the baked treat to her mouth. Taking a bite out of it, Applejack watched the Princess as she chewed on the treat and swallowed it.

"Good ain't it, Princess?" Applejack smiled, the platter still in her mouth.

"Uh, yeah, good", she said as she gave the farmer an obviously fake smile.

"Why don'tcha take some with ya' while ya' look fer Rarity?" Applejack said as she placed the silver platter on the counter top.

Quickly taking out a paper bag, Applejack placed several of the treats from the platter and into the bag. Passing the bag to the Princess, Cadence gave her another fake smile and lifted the bag with her magic and turned towards the door. Applejack smiled and then trotted back to the other bakers and began to work again. As Princess Cadence walked towards the door, she paused for a moment and tossed the bag into a trash bin to the far left side of the room. Twilight and I dropped open our mouths as we looked at the Princess as she left the room.

"Um, Twilight. You saw that too, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. Something's definitely wrong now. This isn't like Cadence to act like this, even on a event such as her wedding", Twilight scowled as she glared at the door.

"I might not know much about weddings and stuff, but this is definitely not somepony your brother would be going out with, let alone marrying", I said.

~Time Skip: 10 pm~

After a visit to Rarity, the fashion designer had made an entire line of dresses. All but one dress was rejected by the Princess. She then said that she had decided to relieve her friends that she had chosen to be her best mares, and decided to make the girls her new best mares. Shining asked Twilight to be his best mare first, and asked John, myself, and even Chipper to be his best man and Changeling. We accepted this, but Cadence just flashed around fake smiles and whatnot. The others didn't seem to be concerned about her behavior, but Twilight and I were. After all of this was finally done, dress has been chosen, food ready, insane party that Pinkie had planned, and the music from Fluttershy. Once all of that was done, we all decided to hit the sack for the night, and get ready for the wedding tomorrow. Princess Celestia has given us each our own rooms, save for the couples amongst our group. Twilight and I shared one room and bed, John and Applejack shared one room and bed, and Fluttershy and Chipper also shared a single room and bed.

The others got their own rooms. These rooms were pretty fancy too, but not something I would enjoy. Rarity of course loved the room she was in, hearing as she squealed in delight as she admired her room.

"So, Jeffry. Are you ready for the wedding tomorrow?" Twilight asked as we got into bed.

"Yeah, but I still think something bad's going to happen tomorrow", I sighed as I looked up at the ceiling.

"I think so too... Twilight, the Changeling Queen told me something before she left John and I to fight an entire room full of her minions...", I said.

"What did she say?" She asked, turning to look at me.

"She said she had some 'conquering' to do... do you think that the threats that Shining mentioned to us a while back is the Changeling Queen?" I asked.

"That might be it, but we can't be sure", she said as she pulled the blanket up to her face, covering the bottom of her face.

"Celestia also said that Changelings had been spotted by some of the scouts, tomorrow might be when they attack", I said as I closed my eyes.

"This isn't good... isn't the city protected by my brother's and your shield?" Twilight asked, the blanket shifted a little as she turned to look at me again.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they can't break it down by force", I said.

"That's also true", she trailed off.

"Come on, Twilight. We're not going to get any rest by talking, we've got a wedding to attend tomorrow", I said.

"You're right. Good night, Jeffry", Twilight said as she scooted towards me and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Gwod nhight, Twhilight", I said, her lips still on mine.

She pulled back and giggled. Closing her eyes, I snapped my fingers and turned off the lights that were coming from the lamp on the table. I wasn't really going to attend the wedding, not before I confirm what I saw in my dream.

* * *

**Here's Chapter 23 :D Also, this fanfic is finally coming to an end soon. Which means I'll be writing my next fanfic after I finish the last of this fanfic. Still needa think of a suitable title for it though, oh well, I can always think of one as I work no the first chapter of it.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	24. Chapter 24: Not Who You Think

_I walked towards the shattered orb that now laid on the floor of darkness, pieces of it lay on nothing but darkness. The table and chair were gone, so all I did was stand and waited for something to give me another vision or for Shadow to come out and speak to me. I already knew I was in another dream again, seeing as I was in this room of empty darkness. I've been in my dream for maybe a few minutes, just standing with nothing to greet me or show me what I might see in the real worlds future. But no, nothing came. I heard nothing, I saw nothing, I felt nothing. Suddenly, I heard foot steps in the distance. Already knowing who it is, I didn't bother to turn around, but acknowledged his presence._

"_About time you showed up. I was beginning to think this dream was just to make me bored", I said as I finally turned around and saw Shadow._

"_Sorry, was checking up on something", he said._

"_Huh? What is there to 'check up' in here? This is my body, not a machine", I asked as I scratched the top of my head._

"_I can look around your mind from time to time, observe what you've seen, and see if there is anything wrong with you", he said as he sat cross-leg on the floor._

"_Oh, is there something wrong with me then?" I asked as I sat across from him, the shattered orb laid in between us._

"_No, but something is missing from you, I've just 'fixed' it just now", he said, doing the quote on quote gesture with his hands._

"_What was missing?" I asked as I picked up a shard from the shattered orb._

"_You lacked the ability to be able to sense magic", he said._

"_But I've always been able to feel magic", I pointed out._

"_Yes, but only when it's close to you and in great amounts", he said as he pointed at me._

"_Okay, so you're saying I can feel magic from afar now?" I asked._

"_That is correct", he smiled as he stood up._

"_And that's all I have to say, go to these mines you saw in your dream. Things are about to get hairy", he sighed as he faded away like a statue made of loose ash being blown away in the wind._

"_Okay... guess there's no vision this time. Okay, go to the mines and then head back to the wedding before it starts... or whatever", I said as I got up._

_I would first go to the mines and then head back to the wedding when I make sure that there is or isn't somepony in the mines. I had the feeling that there was somepony there, but not quite sure. The Changelings might attack during the wedding, but the shield should keep them out._

"_Wait... how the hell do I wake up?" I said out lout as I looked around._

"_Hiya Jeffy!" I heard a voice say._

"_Pinkie? How are you in my dream?" I asked._

"_I don't know! You said you wanted to wake up, right?" The pink mare said as she bounced all over the place._

"_Um, yeah", I shrugged._

"_Here!" She said as she zipped in front of me, here face close to mine._

_She took a deep breathe and suddenly shrieked so loud that it could shatter glass._

Bedroom~

Covering my ears, I bolted upright and shut my eyes close as the shrieking continued. Besides me, Twilight covered her head with the pillow she was lying her head on. Sitting in between us was Pinkie Pie with some sort of loud speaker in her hooves. Behind her was the others, all giggling while as Chipper and John just stared in confusion.

"See, told you I could wake them up!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she threw the loud speaker to the side and bounced on the bed several times before she got off of the bed.

"Ugh, Pinkie! Couldn't you have shaken us awake? Not destroy our eardrums!" I shouted as I rolled around on the bed.

"Sorry, but you two sleepy heads weren't waking up no matter what we did", Pinkie Pie giggled.

"Hey, be glad we didn't ask Luna to wake you up. Remember when she woke me up on the carriage to the Gryphon Kingdom?" John shuddered a little.

"Yeah, yeah, point fucking taken", I groaned as I rolled off of the bed.

"Well, Shining said that the wedding will start at 12 am, so you have time to kill before then", John said, his arm hung around Applejack's neck as she leaned on him.

"Oh, oka-. Oh, good. I need to do something, I'll see you guys later", I said as I suddenly got up and rushed towards the mirror that was hanging by the door and checked if I was suitable to go outside.

"Jeffry, where are you going?" Twilight asked as she finally recovered from Pinkie's wake up call.

"Just something I want to check up on", I said as I buttoned the top button of my shirt and went for the door.

"You'll be back for the wedding, right?" Chipper asked.

"Yeah, bye you guys", I said as I ran out the door, not before I caught a glimpse of the clock, it was already 9 am.

As I ran down the hall, I felt something coming from the far right of the castle and something beneath the castle. Shadow must have really done something to me, because I can sense some stuff now, strong magic sources.

*P.O.V. Change: John*

As Twilight let out another yawn, she lifted her hooves above her head and stretched. As she stretched, she lifted up the blanket a little and revealed a tiny black box from underneath the blanket.

"Hey, Twilight. There's a tiny boxy thing on the bed", Pinkie Pie alerted the unicorn as she bounced around the front of the bed.

"Huh, oh. Maybe Jeffry left it here", Twilight said as she lifted the box up with her magic and brought it close to her face.

"I wonder what's inside it", she curiously said as the lid opened a little, but not enough for her to see inside.

'_Oh shit!_', I shouted into my head as I suddenly leaped forward and onto the bed.

Snatching the box from the unicorns magical grasp, I landed on my chest as I fell onto the bed.

"Uh, John?" Twilight asked as she nudged me.

"I'm okay. This is Jeffry's, but he doesn't want others to look inside it yet, so he kept it in his pockets. Guess it fell out when he got out of bed", I quickly explained at the box I was suspecting that was containing what I think was inside.

"Well, Ah'm off to check up on how the foods comin' along. Wanna make sure there's plenty of food to go around", Applejack said as she trotted towards the door.

"My birds need a little more practice, I'll be going now", Fluttershy said as she trotted towards the door as well.

"I'll go with you, Fluttershy!" Chipper exclaimed as he quickly trotted after her.

Soon all of the girls and Chipper had gone to do whatever they were asked to do for the wedding, while as I had nothing to do. Twilight was still in the room, trying to fix her mane. Looking down at my hand, I pocketed the ring, gotta remember to give this back to Jeffry. Where was he going anyways? Wherever he's going, it doesn't matter to me. What matters to me now is what I should do before the wedding starts. I wasn't asked to do anything, maybe I'll go check up on Shining or Rainbow Dash.

"Twilight, wedding's at around 12 am, right?" I asked as I got off of the bed and walked towards the door.

"Yeah, are you going to go do something?" She asked as she straightened out her mane with a brush she found below the mirror on a small stand.

"Yup, I've got nothing to do. Might as well check up on Rainbow Dash or Shining", I said as I opened the door.

"Okay, bye", she said as she continued to fix her mane.

"Bye", I said back a I walked out the door and let the door swing back close.

Walking down the hall, Guards, maids, and butler ponies all paused for a brief moment to bow and then continue on about their duties. I was starting to understand why Jeff didn't like others to address him by title but by his name or some other form of greeting. All of this bowing and stuff was starting to become creepier as others continued to do it to me. Not like I can tell them to stop, there are a lot of maids and butlers to talk to if I wanted to tell them to stop. Not to mention the hundreds of Guards I would have to tell about this, it would be far too much trouble to just make myself comfortable from something they do for the Princesses every time they see the sisters.

Walking alongside the wall, I looked to the right and saw that this hallway was in view of the country side, the Everfree Forest just below this side of the castle. Stopping, I turned and hung my arms out of the glassless window, I looked out into the open space in front of me. I could talk to Rainbow Dash, but I have no idea where the Wonderbolt is, the Wonderbolt's would most likely be moving around a lot to cover areas to make sure nothing comes towards us. Now that I noticed, Shining's shield was already gone, but Jeffry's shield was still up but was slowly becoming fainter and fainter. Jeffry's shield was pretty thin from being up for so long, he'll have to make another later on.

'_Maybe I can make a shield... wonder how Jeffry and Shining made theirs. Guess I'll just go and ask Shining, since I have no freaking idea on where Jeff went_', I thought as I lifted myself up to the window sill and let myself fall backwards.

Forming my wings, I quickly spun around in the air and flew up into the sky. First I needed to find where Shining was, probably with the Princesses, at some sort of training field, or maybe with his bride.

~Dressing Room~

I stood outside the dressing room that the Guards had hesitantly led me to, they didn't seem too comfortable with me being so close to their Princess. After explaining that I had something to tell her, a message from Fluttershy. My 'marefriend' had asked me to go to Princess Cadence to bring her to the room where she was training her birds to sing. The Guards laughed at the fact that I was in a relationship with a pony, me being a Changeling and all. Well, after my explanation of a message to the Princess herself from one of her helpers, they immediately led me to her dressing room, where she was currently in, and quickly left to give us privacy. Only a towering pair of wooden doors with eye catching designs stood in between myself and the Princesses room. Raising my hoof to knock on the door, I stopped as I heard voices from within the room.

"Have they arrived yet?" I heard a voice say, it might have been the Princess.

"Yes, they have. Th-", the other voice within the room stopped as I knocked on the door.

Hearing a sudden 'fheum' sound of some sort, the Princess said something.

"Who is it?" Princess Cadence asked.

"It's me, Chipper. I have a message from Fluttershy", I said as the door opened, revealing the Princess.

"Yes, the Changeling. What is this message?" She asked, quite demanding to be frank.

"Um, Fluttershy said that she thinks her birds are ready, but she wants to make sure you'll be pleased with their performance. She would like you to hear them before she takes them to the throne room to sing their song", I said, I was getting a strange feeling from her, another pony stood a little back from her.

"If that pegasus thinks her little birds are ready, then they are. No need for my approval", she said.

"Are you sure you don't want to listen to them first?" I asked, slightly annoyed by her tone and the look the other pony from within the room.

"*Annoyed Sigh* If she thinks they're ready, then they are. I am quite sure my aunt did more than an excellent job at selecting the pony to do so, I won't doubt her skills with animals, and that is that", she said.

"Uh, okay. Sorry for prying, Princess Cadence", I said as I began to sweat slightly, something wasn't quite right, even with my just meeting her not too long ago.

"Yes, good bye", she said as she began to close the door.

Bowing my head, I caught a glimpse of something on the rug, four round burn marks. As the door slammed shut, I raised my head and thought of something as the two began to talk again, but in whispers.

'_Those burn marks... they look like..._', I thought as I looked down at my hooves.

Using my shape shifting magic, I changed my hooves slightly to bring out the signature flames of the Changelings transformation. Changing my hooves back, I frowned as I saw similar markings on the rug beneath me, slightly bigger because of my size. I knew what it was now, that other pony was a Changeling, and that sound I heard before she opened the door was the sound of that 'pony' changing.

"Is he gone?" The other pony said to the Princess.

"He might. I despise that vermin", she spat, not surprised. I was hated by many ponies, maybe even all but my friends.

"Good, back to the matter at hoof. The _other_ is still within the mines and has now been left unguarded", the other pony said as I heard another sound of changing.

Pressing my ear slightly to the door, I made sure not to make any noise as I listened in on them.

"*Growing Evil Cackling* Good, this Kingdom will be mine once I marry that buffoon of a stallion and take my place as the new ruler", the Princess said as her voice almost changed completely.

"Yes, and we shall dispose of that traitor?" The voice said again, the voice was sort of familiar to be honest.

"Of course. I will personally end his life when our plan is at a stable success", she said.

I was right! The other 'pony' just has to be a Changeling, but who was this _other_ they were speaking about? Stepping back a little, I bumped into one of the many wooden stands with a bottle like object on it on it. Quickly stopping the weird object from falling over, a slightly audible 'clink' sound could be heard as I brought up both of my hooves to hold it in place. The door opened slightly, I quickly leaped into the air and flapped my wings, no sound could be heard surprisingly.

"Is that traitor still here?" The Changeling asked as it changed back into a pony and stuck its head out into the hall as the 'Princess' stepped out and looked both ways.

Quickly flying outside from one of the many openings on the ceiling, I pressed myself close down onto the roof, just as I caught a glimpse of the Princess starting to move her head up to look at the ceiling.

"It would seem to be no. Return to the room", she said as I could feel her glare at the ceiling.

I sighed as I heard the door slam shut. Sliding off of the roof, I fell off the side of the castle wall and fell towards the ground. Spreading my wings, I took off towards the room Fluttershy was in. How was I going to warn the others? I'll have to wait for the perfect moment for me to reveal this, but when would be a suitable time?

"Hey, Chipper! Come here for a moment!" I heard a voice shout.

"Oh hey, Rainbow Dash. Do you need something?" I asked as I stopped mid-flight to turn and look at the Wonderbolt, is that what they called her?

"Yeah, Shining told me to tell the others that the wedding will be starting sooner than we thought. Come with me to Rarity's work place, we'll need to get our clothes. The others will be there by the time we get to Rarity's workplace", she said as she started to slowly fly towards another direction.

"Uh, okay", I said as I sighed and pushed my plans to the side.

"Wanna race? Bet I can beat you there!" She said as she suddenly took off, leaving behind a rainbow colored streak behind as she flew at a speed I could only dream of reaching.

"Hey! Wait up!" I shouted after the mare as I started to fly as fast as I could.

Maybe revealing the fact that Princess Cadence is a Changeling... wait, I don't have any proof though. I only have proof that that other 'pony' is actually a Changeling, but I have nothing on Princess Cadence, other than the fact that she only knows that that pony is a Changeling. Maybe John and Jeffry can handle this when I tell them about it. Jeffry won't be able to make it to the wedding if he doesn't come back, he said he was going to check something out today. John isn't all that bright, but he'll have to do. He has a higher stand point amongst us than anypony else.

~Outskirts of Canterlot, Base of a Cliff~

Walking up to the map at the entrance of the mine, I looked it over. It was the mine from my dream.

"Bingo", I said as I walked into the mine, both swords at the ready.

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**This is sort of a shorter chapter than the others, by maybe 300 or so words? Sorry about that :P. Hope you guys liked it though. I'll try to get one or two more by the end of this weekend.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	25. Chapter 25: Breaking Free

A Guard had told me that the wedding was going to start earlier than planned, but that didn't mean I could go ask Cadence some questions before all of this was done. I wanted to know if she was acting like this simply because a big change was going to happen in her life, or was it because of something else. The Cadence I know would have never acted like that in any situation, nor would she leave me to do that dance we came up with a long time ago alone. I tried asking Shining, but he seemed rather dazed when I entered his room, he was just staring out of his bedroom window at the castle. Asking Cadence up front would be my only option as of now. Stopping in front of Cadence's dressing room, I moved closer to the door to avoid getting run over by one of the many maids and butlers that were zipping through the halls to finish any last minute details for the wedding.

Looking down, I saw that there were weird burn marks on the carpet, but I pushed the markings out of my mind and paid attention to the door again. Knocking on the door, it swung inwards to reveal a fully dressed Princess.

"Yes?" She asked, both her tone and expression were stained with that of annoyance.

"I have a few questions to ask you", I said as I forcefully trotted into the room, where another pony was already inside, more burn marks stained the carpet.

"Questions? At a time like this? Are you insane?" Cadence groaned as she slammed the door shut, another thing she wouldn't do.

"They won't take long, I just want to know a few things", I said.

"*Annoyed Sigh* Very well, I will answer some of your questions. And it indeed will not take long", she said as her expression turned into that of sinister.

~Mines~

I slowly walked downwards into the mine. The tracks that spiraled down into the depths and darkness of the manes were older than I would have thought them to be. Several wooden supports had already snapped under my weight and caused the railing to spread out a little, only causing more wooden supports to break. I was trying my best to not to cause the entire track system to collapse, preventing me from taking the same route back up to the surface. I could see the bottom, but I didn't feel like jumping down, seeing as I had plenty of time left before the wedding starts. Suddenly, I tripped forward but kept myself up, I had broken another wooden support. A loud clanking sound came from above as I felt the very tracks shake. Looking up, I saw that a mine cart had come loose from the continuing shaking from each support being broken.

Turning around, I waited for the cart to come to me. Once the cart was just a few feet away from me as it came thundering down the tracks, I grabbed the front of the cart and flipped into the cart. Holding onto the sides of the cart, I heard as the tracks above me start to break apart and fall down towards me, the cart had caused the ancient tracks to fall apart. Just as the cart hit the floor, I rammed my back into the back of the cart, causing the front of the cart to lift up. The cart safely landed on the lowest level of the mines as the tracks continued to fall apart. Leaping over the side of the still moving cart, I watched as the rusty bucket of a mine cart slam into the bumper, only to shatter that too. Looking around, I saw that I was in the final and giant crystal cavern I saw in my dream. Walking forward, I looked from side to side in search of that crystal wall I saw myself beating at. This wasn't going to be easy, since all but the floor was covered in giant crystals.

Sighing, I sheathed my swords, my left hand brushed against the lump in my left pocket, but not my right, I froze. Quickly patting my right pocket, I panicked as I felt nothing in there.

'_Shit shit shit shit shit! Where's the ring!_' I panicked as I quickly checked to see if I had placed the second ring in any other pockets and simply forgot about it.

I froze as I heard a sigh, I pushed the thoughts of my lost ring aside and looked around as I wrapped my fingers around the hilt of my right sword. Crouching down a little, I scanned the crystal cavern, the cavern was only slightly lit from a hole at the far corner of the ceiling. A single opening allowed some sunlight to shine in and reflect on a few crystals that shined it to others. Slowly turning myself in a small circle as I surveyed the cavern, I stopped as I saw a moving shadow. Unsheathing my sword, I heard another sigh as the shadow raised it's head, I presume. On further inspection, I could make out a crown of some sorts.

'_Must be that pony I saw in my dream_', I thought as I unsheathed both swords and made my way over to the wall of crystals with the shadows dancing on it's surface.

A crunching sound came as my shoes ground the tiny stones down from my weight as I walked towards the crystal wall. The shadowy figure behind the wall obviously heard my approach as the sounds must have been getting louder for him or her as I came closer. Raising it's head, the shadow changed as it turned to look towards the source of the sound it was hearing from my shoes.

"I-Is somepony there?" A voice said.

"Not a pony, but someone. Tell me, is your coat pink, you're wearing a crown, and your mane is a complete mess?" I asked as I placed my open palm on the crystal wall, my sword being held by the curve of my hand.

"Yes?" She replied, slightly confused.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, I presume?" I smiled as I moved my hand away.

"Um, yes. But everypony calls me Princess Cadence, who are you?" She asked, I could hear her trot close to the wall.

"A friend of a friend of sorts", I chuckled.

"Oh... why are you here? I thought the Changelings were keeping anypony out", she said.

"I didn't hear or see any Changelings here, they must have left. Now let's get you out of there", I said as I flipped my swords so that their blades faced the floor.

"It's impossible, I've tried over and over, but I could never break these crystals... I'm supposed to be getting married", she said as she let out a depressed sigh.

"Don't worry, Princess. Just back away from the wall and take cover behind something, if you can", I said as I swung at the crystal.

"Whoa!" I gasped as I quickly leaned back to dodge the blade of my sword as it broke off.

"Huh, guess this is hard. Let me try this. Are you behind something yet?" I called out to the Princess, her shadow no longer stained the crystal wall.

"Yes", she said.

Taking a deep breath, I tensed up my body as I poured my magic into my arms, changing their form as I turned them into the black scaled arms I used in the ruins. Once they were at their monstrous form, I roared a I reeled my arm back and struck the wall, earning a loud rumbling sound as the crystal vibrated. Not stopping there, I continued to reel both arms back one at a time as I struck the wall at the same spot over and over until I finally earned a single crack in the wall. I continued to work on the wall , earning more and more cracks as I continued to bombard the sturdy crystal wall with more blows. Stepping back, I blew on my hand as I shook it. My hand felt as if it was burning now. Looking at the wall as I held my hand with my other, I saw that the cracks were well spread out, but showed no signs of breaking through to the other side.

Unsheathing my still intact sword, I drove it's tip into the center of the star shaped crack in the crystal wall and drove it deeper and deeper into the crevice until it could go no further. I used my magic to change the shapes form and melted it down into the crack, spreading the artificial metal throughout it's cracks. Twisting my sword, I was rewarded with a loud crack.

"Princess, this is going to be loud, take cover some more if you can", I said as I backed away.

"Okay", she said as I heard her shuffle against the stone floor.

Roaring, I swung my fist at the bottom end of the hilt and drove the sword straight through the crystal wall, creating a chain reaction of cracks. The cracks spread outwards as the melted down metal broke through with the sword, leaving cracks that went through to the other side. Smacking both fists at either sides of the center hole, I broke down the crystal wall enough so that I could make I through. I was showered by shards of crystal as I walked under the still somewhat crumbling crystal wall. A head poked out from behind a small mount of crystals, she was indeed the mare I saw in my dreams.

"So, the so called 'Princess Cadence' up top is a fake?" I asked as I offered my hand to the Princess.

"Thank you. Yes, she's a Changeling! She's the Queen of all of the Changelings to be precise", she smiled faintly as she placed her hoof in my hand and I helped her up.

"Wait... huh, that makes a lot a sense actually", I said as I remembered that piece of pink I saw before the Queen disappeared behind a corner, that must have been her turning into Princess Cadence!

"Come on, we've got a wedding to stop", I smiled as I turned around.

Suddenly, a green flaming sphere came out from the ceiling of the caves and dropped down in front of us. Shielding the Princess with myself, I shrunk down my arms and formed two new swords to use against whatever this was. As the flames died down, it revealed Twilight.

"Ugh, Twilight?" I said as I scratched my head.

"Ugh... Wait, Jeffry? Why are you he- Get away from her!" Twilight said as she got up and growled at Princess Cadence as her horn glowed.

"Calm down, this is the real Princess Cadence, I did say I had something to check up on, right?" I asked as I wagged one of my swords at the direction of the shattered crystal wall.

She looked to the side and saw the mess I had left behind, and slowly calmed down.

"How do we know if she isn't another Changeling?" She asked.

"Oh, so you know the one up top is a Changeling too?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, I was questioning her and when she suddenly pinned me down with her magic. A pony next to her changed into me! She did something and I sank into the ground and I'm here somehow", Twilight said as she trotted over to Cadence and looked her over.

"Ugh, something is impersonating you? Not cool. Come on, let's get going before Shining marries a fake", I said as I ran back towards the pile of debris that was once a track that led to the surface level.

"How are we going to get up?" Twilight asked as she looked around the curved surface of the hole.

"Hold on you two", I said as I moved my arms underneath their midsection and lifted them up and moved them closer so that they rested on my shoulders.

Twilight was somewhat okay with this, but Princess Cadence was obviously not familiar with being held like this, being a Princess and all. Wanting to end her uncomfortable feeling as quickly as possible I let out a grunt as I leaped into the air. I slowly angled down onto the wall. Driving my feet onto of a flat crystal mound on the wall, I shot up the wall with the help of my magic, to keep myself from falling off the wall. Running alongside the curved walls of the hole, I soon made it to the top and leaped over the ledge and landed with a thud. Gently setting the two mares down, we were greeted by a large group of Changelings. These Changelings must have gotten into the city and through my shield somehow and were hiding out here. Stepping forward, the swarm of Changelings roared as they charged forward, bearing their fangs at me as they did so. Bringing my palms together, I formed a dark orb that gave off crackling black electricity. Thrusting my arms forward, I shot the orb out and it expanded as it was released from my hold, engulfing and leaving nothing behind as it went straight through the center of the swarm.

"Twilight, I want you to take Cadence up to the city. Stop your brother from marrying the fake Cadence", I said as I formed two scythes in my hands.

"Okay", Twilight said as she nudged Cadence forward, towards the long lane that I had created.

The lane that was made from my attack was soon closed off as more Changelings took their fallen comrades places.

"Okay, on second thought. I'll charge forward and you two stay close behi-", I stopped as several flaming figures dropped from the ceiling of the crystal mines.

As the flaming figures roared, black flames shot out from the cracks of their armors as more of them continued to fall from the ceiling. Looking up, I saw that were was a vast amount of these flaming figures. One of them turned to me, it was the skeleton ponies that the others and I had seen heading towards Canterlot the day before the moved wedding. The Changelings only stopped for a brief moment from the sudden appearance of the skeleton ponies, but charged forward, only to be crushed by several falling skeleton ponies.

"Nevermind, these guys will handle the Changelings. I'm getting you to the wedding area", I said as I once more scooped the two up, disarming my scythes.

Forming my wings, I leaped into the air and over the Changelings, causing the two mares to scream as we soared over the Changelings. Touching down, I shrunk away my wings and ran for the entrance of the mines. Rushing out of the mines, I quickly turned around, my feet scraping against the gravel covered path. Using my magic once more on my feet, I ran up the side of the cliff and went straight up. After a minutes or so run, I finally reached the top of the cliff side and was now running up the side of the castles wall, the castle was a little too close to the edge of this cliff, but these matters would have to come later. Reaching an open air spa that was connected to the castle, I landed on the railing, bending it slightly.

Ignoring the shrieking of the mare customers, I ran straight through the cloth doors and through the changing room. Running out of said spa, I made a sharp turn and ran up a curved staircase that curved to the right as it went up, meeting another staircase that went straight forward, not curving like this one. I could hear the sounds of wedding bells ring as the wedding was starting up.

"No! The wedding's starting!" The real Cadence on my shoulder said.

"Don't worry! I'm going to get you there before this comes to an end", I hissed through my teeth as I gave it my all to run up the stairs.

Seeing that this area was open up top, I bound up into the air and formed my armor on me, having to throw the two mares up a little so that my shoulder pads could form. I drove my armored foot into the wall and used it as a foothold to run up the wall. Reaching the top of the staircase, completely ignoring the stairs itself, I kicked down the doors and ran down the hall. Guards shouted and exclaimed to one another at the sudden destruction of one of the doors they were stationed at. The sounds of the wedding bells grew louder and louder, cheering followed as the sound of hundreds of hooves stomping on the ground. Two Guards at a door aimed their spears at me, obviously uncertain if I was attacking the castle again, or in a rush to get to the wedding. They gasped as they saw the Princess on my shoulder.

"Put down your spears and open those doors!" I commanded as I skidded to a stop, bunching up the carpet as I slowed myself down.

Setting the Princess and my marefriend down at my sides, I formed my bow and pulled back, forming two arrows. The two Guards quickly complied to my orders and rammed the doors open, rather than just simply pushing them open.

"Jeff? What the fucking hell are you doing?" John asked, he was right by the door as they opened.

Ignoring him, I fired at my targets. The said fake Twilight and Princess Cadence at the far side of the room, by the alter. John tried to swing at my arrows as he formed his sword at the confusion I was causing, everypony in the room gasped. Missing my arrows, the one I fired at the fake Twilight met its mark and drove itself into the forehead of my fake marefriend. The other blew apart as it collided with an invisiable barrier around Cadence, giving off a burning black and green effect as my arrow burned away.

"Jeffry! What the fucking hell! You killed Twil-",he stopped as he and many other ponies and our friends looked behind me and saw another Cadence and an alive Twilight.

"Jeff, what the hell's going on?" John said as he formed his armor and another sword and looked back and forth and me and the fake Cadence.

"That so called _Princess_, is a fake! This is the real one!" I shouted as I stepped to the side, revealing the messy yet real Princess.

"Ha! Perfect!" We heard Chipper exclaim as he charged straight for the alter.

The fake Cadence was remaining quiet as she turned towards Chipper. Her horn glowed a green color and she sent Chipper back with a blow with her magic.

"Everypony, OUT. NO!" I ordered as I pulled back on my bow and began to rapidly fire at the Princess, only to have them burn away like the first did.

"Jeff! What's going on?" John asked as all of the ponies within the room rush past us and out of the room.

"That Cadence is the Queen of the Changelings! She's going to try and take over the city, remember? Her forces have already started a base underneath the castle, but my skeleton soldiers are handling them", I said as I charged through the surging stamped of ponies.

"Sugarcube! Get back here ya' crazy colt!" Applejack shouted.

Leaping into the air, I soared through the air as I went straight for the fake Cadence as Chipper continued to attack, only to be stopped by a barrier. Striking the invisible shield with my swords, they shattered.

"Traitor! You dare leave your Queens side to join the enemy?!" The Queen said.

"I left you all because you're all monsters! I didn't want that life anymore!" Chipper hissed as he stood his ground, I landed by his side as John charged forward.

"You are a monster yourself! To defy your Queen, your mother! Your own kind! You shall die!" She shouted, her voice changing completely.

"Fuck you bitch!" John said as he ran between Chipper and I and tackled the barrier, but managed to push the Princess back.

She fell backwards, but landed back on her hooves as she changed back into her tall Changeling form.

"So... you're the Queen?" I heard a voice ask as a thundering sound of hooves land hard on the marble floor behind hus.

"Indeed I am, Celestia", the Queen grinned evilly.

"Thou will never take this Kingdom, not while we stand", Luna said as she landed by her sisters side.

"We shall see about that, I've been feeding off of this stallion for quite some time. His love for this laugh of a Princess has made me quite powerful", the Queen let out a thundering laugh.

"Shining Armor! What have you done with him?" Cadence yelled at the Changeling Queen.

"Why he's here of course", she grinned menacingly as her horn glowed a green color.

A green dome rose from the ground and soon broke apart, revealing Shining Armor. His expression was pretty weird, but not conscious at the looks of it. Though he was standing on all four of his hooves, his looks were a bit off and his eyes were glowing a light green color.

"Shining!" Cadence gasped as a tear formed in her eye.

"If you want him back, take him", she taunted as Changelings broke through the windows behind her.

"We've got your back, Princess", John grinned wickedly as he pounded his now armored fists together.

"Prepare thyself!" Luna let out her thundering voice as he eyes turned white, her sisters eyes glowed the same as their horns glowed brightly with their respected colors.

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**Yay, done with this Chapter :D. The next chapter will most likely be the last chapter of this fanfic. Once this is finished, I'll start working on the next fanfic. I still need a name for both the fanfic itself and a couple of the characters xD.**

**Please leave a Review!**


	26. Chapter 26: Elimination and The End

"Hey Jeff", John grinned as he looked over towards me.

"Don't you dare say it again...", I glared at him.

"Hey, what's hanging?" He asked as he began to laugh as he rocked back and forth.

"You mother fucker", I whispered angrily at him.

John and I were hanging by our arms from the ceiling, green goo now covered most of the room, it was that which was securing out hands to the ceiling. We had lost the fight against the Changeling Queen, guess she wasn't lying when she said that Shining's love for Cadence had made her powerful. Princess Celestia and her sister were hanging over the throne, where the Queen was now sitting, in some sort of weird green cocoon. The others were stuck to the ground by their hooves by the same green goo. John and I could easily break free from the goo, but we knew that the others would be killed immediately after we had broken free. We couldn't do anything about the others safety, but stay where we were. Even if we did break free, we would never make it in time before the Changelings that stood by the others killed them.

Well, Chipper was about to be killed right here and now. Seeing as he betrayed his own kind. The Queen walked around him, observed him as she circled him several times. Chipper was covered in dark purple bruises, cuts covered his neck and face from the beating he earned from his former comrades. Now he was going to be killed by the Queen herself.

"Now... Chipper, one of the first of my hatchlings... are you ready to die?" She grinned evilly as she stopped in front of him as her horn glowed a violent hue of green.

"Just get it over with", he snarled at her, not even caring that she's his mother.

"Chipper, no!" Fluttershy cried out as she tried to go to him, but the goo on her hooves kept her in place.

"Hmm? What's this? It would appear that this mare has feelings of... love... towards YOU. You've gone and formed a loving relationship with a pony! *Evil Laugh* How rich", she laughed as she flicked her tail at Chippers face as she trotted down the steps and towards the others.

"Maybe I'll have your brothers have a little fun with your little pony friend, Chipper?" She said as she cast an evil gaze over her shoulder at Chipper.

"Don't you dare!" Chipper shouted at the top of his lungs as he tried to tear the goo from his black hole littered hooves from the goo.

"Seems like an excellent idea", she let out an evil yet light giggle.

I could hear John form a sword into the ceiling as Changelings snickered madly as they trotted towards the others. I kicked John lightly with my food and shook my head at him.

"_They're going to fucking kill them!_" John hissed at me, forming another sword into the ceiling.

"_Hold on a minute, don't you hear that_?" I asked.

"_Hear what? The approaching death of our friends_?" John spat back as he started to pull his hand out of the goo, carving a line into the stone celing.

"No, THAT sound", I said as I looked towards the broken windows.

John groaned but looked towards the windows as well. There were the sounds of light flapping, they were many in numbers, but we couldn't make out on what they were. John groaned again and looked away from the window and down at our friends as the Changelings approached the others, Chipper continued to issue threats and curses at the Queen as he tried to free himself to rush to Fluttershy's and the others rescue. Tears were beading down his cheeks as he watched as his former comrades move in to kill our friends. Suddenly, green fireballs bombarded the Changelings, and only the Changelings, they came from the window. The fire balls that were coming at the Queen were stopped as they collided with her invisible shield. Chipper was for some reason spared. The Changeling Queens expression suddenly changed as she took to the air and flew back towards the entrance of the throne room.

"Minions! Attack!" She shouted as she pointed at the broken windows.

Loud eagle or hawk cries came from the windows as the Changelings charged towards the windows. John and my view were blocked from the over hang of the window, rendering us unable to see what the Queen was so shocked about. Suddenly, a large group of Gryphons surged through the broken windows, all lead by a familiar Gryphon in a purple cape. The familiar Gryphon let out a loud booming laugh as he struck the Changeling in front of him with his scepter.

"It's Might Beak!" John cheered.

"John, now!" I shouted as I formed my scythes and twisted my hands, slicing off the green goo.

"Finally!" John wooped as he tore his hands from the goo and dropped down with me, we both drove our heels onto the shoulders of two Changelings below us.

John wasted no time to clap his hands and form small bubble barriers around the others before he spread out his arms and charged forward. Many Changelings drove their own necks into John's arms as he ran forward. Letting out another laugh, his arms glowed a blinding white color as white gleaming spikes shot out from his arms and stabbed through the Changelings necks. Reaching down, I grabbed hold of the Changelings leg and swung its body at its comrades, swatting several into the air and over the others.

"Good to see you're alive again", Might Beak laughed as he crushed the head of a Changeling with his armored talon.

"Good to see that... well, okay?" I said as I slammed my hands onto the ground.

Black spears shot out of the floor for a brief moment and back into the ground as I removed my magic from the ground, not before they impaled several Changelings around us. Skeleton ponies began to break through the door to the throne room and started to attack the Changelings, but knowingly ignored the Gryphons.

"What are those beasts?" Might Beak said as he moved out of the way of a charging skeleton pony, allowing it to tackle down a Changeling behind us.

"They're fighting with us, long story, but they're okay", I said as I smashed the ends of my scythes together and pulled on them, stretching out the pole.

"What do we do now?" John said as he backed into me.

"I'll go for the Queen, you two stay here and draw them away", I said as I formed my wings and shot into the air.

Leaving the two behind, I cut down the Changelings that were coming down from the air space of the throne room. I flew towards the others, where the Changeling Queen was. Landing hard on my feet, I swung at the Queen, only to have the front blade of my weapon burned away as it came within range of the Queen.

"Give up foolish creature, this battle will end in my victory! You can't even lay a scratch on me!" She boomed as she struck the ground with her hoof, sending a veil of dark green fire at me.

I spun my scythe and blew away the fire as it came close to me.

"But maybe I can!" John shouted as he leaped over my head and swung a giant mace over his head and down onto the Queen.

His attack didn't hit her directly, but the barrier seemed to be anchored to where she was. The force from his attack pushed her down, creating a round indent in the marble floor as her invisible barrier pushed down. She gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep on her hooves, but John and I didn't let her. Forming my black scaled arms, I brought my hands together and over my head, and then brought them down hard on the barrier. With John's added strike from his mace, a crack formed in the air.

"John, I thought I told you to draw her troops away", I said as I backed away.

"Don't worry, I got Celestia and Luna out. They're handling the others with Might Beak", John said as he rested his mace on his shoulder.

"Her barrier seems to be weaker now, give her all you've got!" I shouted as I rammed into her weakened barrier and continued to push her until she crashed into the wall.

John swung his mace upwards, creating more cracks as his attack caused the Queen to go up a little. Shouting in anger, the Queen reeled up and slammed her fore hooves into the ground and sent another, yet bigger, veil of dark green flames at us. I brought my arms together as John rushed behind me, the flames struck my arms but didn't affect me. Trying to attack with the same thing once more, John gave her no time to bring her hooves down. He sprung over me and swung his mace down, causing her to once more create another round indent on the floor. John jumped away as I rammed her through the wall, the sound of glass breaking could be heard as her barrier broke apart.

"I'll be back to claim this Kingdom another day!" The Queen shouted as she began to fly away.

"Jeff, let's get her!" John shouted as he charged towards the hole in the wall, but stopped as the fleeing Changeling Queen was suddenly engulfed in a dark blueish and purple pillar of light.

The Queen let out a pain filled shriek as she was reduced to nothing from this unknown pillar of light. Suddenly, something crashed through the ceiling and broke the floor as it landed, causing the Changelings to blow away from it. The Gryphons took to the air to avoid this. Once the white flames that were created by the falling object had faded, John and I could see that it was King Nova!

"I see you've been handling things here quite well", a motherly voice came from behind us, near the hole in the wall.

"Queen Eclipse? What are you two doing here?" I asked as John and I moved back to give her space to land.

"Is it so wrong for us to see a member of our family getting married? Not to mention the infestation you've had", Eclipse giggled lightly as King Nova let out a hearty laugh as he obliterated Changelings left and right.

"But aren't you two supposed to be in _that_ place?" I asked as I morphed my somewhat usable scythe into two daggers and drove them into the shoulders of a charging Changeling.

"Yes, but the First One will not be pleased for our actions upon leaving our place in _that_ world. That can be handled later, but now we have vermin to clear", she smiled as her face seemed to give off a killing aura.

"You would not mind if I have some fun as well?" Eclipse said as she turned to look right at me, a chill went down my spine.

"B-by all means, go right on ahead", I stuttered as I felt myself become covered in cold sweat.

"Why thank you", she smiled a little more as she turned to the Changelings within the room.

With a single movement, she swung her head. A purple shockwave gave off a white after effect as it blew away the entire room of Changelings, leaving the Gryphons and our friends unharmed. Nothing was left but piles of ash and smoldered corpses in the far end of the room.

"Oh come on, darling, couldn't you have left some for me to have a little fun with? It's been centuries since I've had any action on a battlefield", King Nova let out a heart chuckle as he trotted towards us.

"My apologizes, Father, but I couldn't stand another second with our daughters castle being defiled by vermin", Eclipse giggled as she covered her mouth with her hoof.

"... Scary", John and I said in a whisper.

~Time Skip: 10 pm~

After the mess in the castle and the surrounding area around the castle was cleaned up, we were going to resume the wedding. And this time it was with the real Princess Cadence. The repairs to the throne room, where the wedding was to be held, went far quickly with the help of Queen Eclipse and King Nova. Queen Eclipse was able to make everypony work really fast... they had to, or they would get killed by her stare. The girls, Chipper, John, and I stood to the sides of the alter, each of us were on a step that lead to the top of the platform. John and I were in our armor instead of the suits Rarity had made. Instead of Celestia conducting the ceremony, her mother and father were taking her place as the priest. It took a while to get Shining back to normal, not a little five minute slapping session from John couldn't fix.

After the "I do's", it was time to head out to the garden for the after party... or whatever it's called, I have no idea. The dance was slow at first, until Twilight nodded to Pinkie Pie who zipped towards a Dj stand? Music began to play that was not fitting for a party such as this, followed by Twilight singing. I sure missed out on a lot when I went to get Cadence out of the mines.

~Time Skip: 10:30 pm~

Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were due to leave for their honey moon, but they thought it would be nice to stay another day, to spend some time with us. We were by the far corner of the gardens, where we were all shrouded by the castles curved walls. Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and myself were on top of a over seeing platform that looked down at the garden, which was only a few feet down.

"Jeffry... thank you for getting me out of the mines. If it wasn't for you, I would have never gotten out of there", Cadence smiled as she looked at me.

"No problem, always glad to help a friend of Twilight", I chuckled as I rested my arms on one another as I leaned on the fancy marble railing.

"How did you know she was in the mines to begin with?" Shining asked.

"It's a complicated story, let's just say that I've got a theater in my head whenever I sleep", I chuckled at their confusion.

"Jeffry, here you are. I thought you had left, John wanted me to give you this", Twilight said as she trotted up the small flight of stairs and towards me, a small black box floating by her head.

"There it is, I thought I lost it...", I smiled as I took and from her magic and held it in my hand for a moment, and then threw it at John who was coming up the stairs with the others.

"Yo, Jeff. Why are you throwing this at me? I thought it was important", John said as he was about to throw it back to me.

"It's okay, it was for you anyways. The jewelry store owner said he made two for the two of us. One for me to use, and the other for you", I smiled as I took out the other box I had.

"Oh cool, wait...", he said as he looked over to Applejack.

"What's in it anyways?" Twilight asked.

I shook my head as I chuckled. Turning to Twilight completely, I took Twilight's hoof in my hand and used my other hand with the box in it to cover the top of her hoof.

"Twilight, I've always thought I was a monster when I lost Amber. You helped me realize that I wasn't a monster, but a hero to some. You've gave me a new life, here in Equestria, a new life that I could enjoy with you and my new friends", I smiled as I kissed her hoof, causing her to blush a little.

John chuckled as he flipped the box into the air and caught it, the others were confused, but not Shining and Cadence.

"You gave me a gift, the gift of love, a gift that I thought I had lost all right to have. But you, you gave me that gift of love. You made my life happy when you said you loved me. Now... let me make your life happy as well", I said as I got down onto one knee, the others now realized what I was doing and was all on edge.

"Twilight... will you marry me?" I asked, smiling up at her as tears flowed down her purple cheeks.

"Yes, I will", she whispered as she dropped a little and buried her face into my chest.

~Time Skip: 15 years~

It has been 15 long and happy years. After Princess Cadence and Shining Armor got married, I proposed to Twilight, who was in tears as she said yes. Our wedding was actually two in one, John used the other ring to propose to Applejack. John and I had our weddings on the same day, same place, same time. I stood on the balcony of the mansion that Celestia and built for us for our birthdays. Twilight by my side, Applejack and John were also with us on the balcony, looking down at three playful little children in the gardens. Twilight and I had our child of our own, Applejack and John had one too. Twilight and I had a human child, while as the child that Applejack gave birth to was a little filly. With the help of Zecora's potions, she was able to brew us a potion that would allow a pony to have a child with another species.

Our son had black hair, black eyes, he was only eight years old, yet he was smart enough to rival the knowledge of Twilight and my own. We had named him a human name, rather than a pony name, to match his human body. His name was Jack.

**(A/N: Yay, another name with "J" in it...)**

Applejack and John's little filly was also eight. Her mane was short, it was the same color as her mothers. She also wore a similar hat that Applejack wore, it was actually Appleblooms, the one that John had given to little Applebloom on his birthday. Her coat, mane and tail, all matched Applejacks, but the only thing she inherited from John was his monstrous strength. The third child that was playing with our kids in the garden, was the child that Chipper and Fluttershy had. Yes, I know, a Changeling and a pony having a child? Impossible, but Zecora also made the potion for the two, once Fluttershy was sure she wanted to have a child with Chipper. Thought it was rather strange, I was sure that Changelings were born with similar traits as insects, meaning only the Queen could mate. Oh well, better not think about it too much.

The child that Fluttershy and Chipper had was in the form of a filly, but was born with the body of a Changelings. She had a shy personality when it came to meeting new faces, but was okay with the girls and us. She liked to take up the form of a filly, the form she took was very close to that of Fluttershy's when she herself was a little filly.

"15 years, aye Jeff?" John said as he chuckled, his arm around Applejack.

"Yeah... nothing has happened since the wedding, other than our children", I smiled as I watched as Jack was tackled to the ground by Jasmine.

Jasmine was the name that the two had named their little filly.

"You think Jasmine likes Jack?" Twilight asked as she rested her head on my arm.

"I don't know, but I won't let your son go out with my daughter", John gave me a smug grin.

"Hey, if they do love one another, let them be together", I said.

"Yeah... either it's Nina or Jasmine who goes for your son", a voice came from within the room behind us.

"Hey, Chipper!" John said as he turned around and leaned on the railing.

Nina was the name Fluttershy had chosen for her daughter, Chipper wasn't even allowed a single chance to pick a name. It was hilarious, Fluttershy sure knew how to take a stand now.

"I wouldn't mind little Nina being with Jacky", Fluttershy said as she trotted out from the room and onto the balcony.

"Yeah, but if they do get together, what if they want to have a child of their own in the future?" John asked.

"Then they'll have to drink Zecora's nasty brew like we all did", Applejack said as she stuck out her tongue at the memory of Zecora's potion.

"Yeah, that was pretty nasty stuff", I chuckled.

"Well, our kids love will come for one another, or not, in the future. We'll just have to see how that turns out", Chipper said.

A pegasi Guard pony landed on the balcony from behind us.

"Yes?" Chipper asked.

Over the past 15 years, Celestia had finally offered him a place amongst the ranks of the Royal Guard. And the pegasi that was in front of me, was a full grown stallion, his name...

"Commander Silver Streak, message from Princess Celestia. She requests your presence and the presence of the two War Generals in the meeting hall in Canterlot as soon as possible", Silver Streak said.

"Right, come on Jeff. We've got work to do", John chuckled as he patted my shoulder.

"Yeah... bye everypony. Bye Twilight", I said to them all, giving Twilight a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye", the girls all said as they waved us good bye.

"Bye kids!" John shouted from over the railing.

"Bye daddy!" Jack said as he jumped up and down as he waved both arms.

"Bye old man!" Jasmine shouted.

"DON'T CALL ME OLD!" John shouted.

"Come on, gramps. Let's get going", I laughed as I grabbed his shoulder.

Nina had said good bye too, but she also had her mothers voice, a sweet yet tiny voice. Giving the girls one last look, I snapped my fingers and teleport John, Chipper, Silver Streak, and myself to the castle. Work work work, always work.

_The End_

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**Well, there you have it folks. New World, New Life 2: Changes of Good and Bad, has finally come to an end. I feel as if I rushed this... which I think I really did. Hope you guys loved the first and the sequal! I will begin working on my next fanfic. The next fanfic will not be updated as fast as my previous fanfics. I want to put more effort and more detail as I can (which will be close to impossible to notice). Going to actually read over each chapter before I upload them.**

**Well, hope you all enjoyed this fanfic! There might be another story that links to this in the later future, I might write it when I finish with my long list of fanfics to write.**

**Please leave a Review! And thank you for those who followed me through this!**


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